During his visit to Washington, where he’s attending the NATO Summit, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski gave his remarks at the Johns Hopkins SAIS school of international studies. Prime Minister Mickoski discussed Macedonia’s support for Ukraine, the anti-corruption plans as well as the historic dispute with Bulgaria.

My country is the biggest donor. The Macedonian Government and the Macedonian Parliament voted in favor of huge donations to Ukraine and we are among the top five suppliers per capita. We are not a big and rich country but we are doing our efforts to support Ukrainians, to defend their territorial sovereignty and to fight against Russian aggression. What is occuring in Ukraine is something that is a threat for humanity, Mickoski said.

Regarding Bulgaria, Mickoski said that the request that Macedonia must amend its Constitution will not be the last request coming from Bulgaria. He pointed out to numerous decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg that the rights of Macedonians in Bulgaria are violated and the lack of such decisions regarding Bulgarians in Macedonia.

On the issue of the much needed fight against corruption, Prime Minister Mickoski detailed his proposal for changes to the Judicial Council, saying that the status quo is unsustainable when the work of the judiciary as a whole is ranked positively by just 2 percent of the citizens.