The Macedonian people deserve to open the EU accession talks, and this issue should not be linked to holding early general elections in Macedonia, said VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski during a press event today.

I’m an optimist that the date can be given in December. This people deserves to open the accession talks. It is not a matter of a month, as Foreign Minister Dimitrov says, it is a matter of having the European Council meet and Brussels, of them dropping the blackmails our eastern neighbor imposes on us and that we begin building our shared future in Europe, instead of returning to centuries in the past, Mickoski said.

VMRO-DPMNE calls for early general elections after the major defeat the ruling SDSM party suffered in the local elections. Zaev, on the other hand, is draping himself in the EU flag, and insists that only with his party remaining in power and continuing the policy of appeasement, will Macedonia be able to begin the accession talks.

Mickoski also discussed the catastrophic energy situation in Macedonia, which is left almost without domestic electricity generation.

REK Bitola is in a disastrous state. Only one generator is working, and the other is at a third of its capacity because they don’t have enough coal. The incident in the Vrutok hydro plant yesterday, whether it happened due to a surge or continued strong demand, is also not a normal event. That is the only hydro plant that still has some potential in it. If it also fails, we will be left without a single hydro plant that is generating, Mickoski warned.