During his MRTV interview this evening, VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski urged more EU officials to speak out against the Bulgarian blockade of Macedonia.

If European bureaucrats stand to the side, despite the hegemonistic and greater-state ideas put forward by Bulgaria, and don’t respect our striving to join the EU, then we can conclude that we don’t share the same values. We will need to work on the European agenda by ourselves and wait for other generations of politicians who will be more attuned to our positions. If our partners don’t stand behind my right to language, identity and history, then we don’t share the same values, Mickoski said.

Slovakia and the Czech Republic blocked the adoption of European Council conclusions that would’ve allowed Bulgaria to officially cite different reading of history as cause to block Macedonia from opening EU accession talks. Austria subsequently joined their position. Even with the conclusions adopted, Bulgaria would have likely remained opposed to the opening of accession talks with Macedonia.

Zaev responded to the Bulgarian veto by toughening his position on Bulgaria, and today he announced a “Plan 21” which he claimed means Macedonia will continue to work on its reforms even without having a clear EU perspective. A big portion of Zaev’s proposals and press conference question were then devoted to his push to legalize marijuana, a business in which his own family has invested a lot. Mickoski replied that the Zaev plan seems identical to the 3-6-9 plan he presented shortly after grabbing power in 2017.

If you listen to his empty phrases, they are the same as what he said four years ago when he was in the opposition, and to that 3-6-9 plan which he later expanded into a “Plan 18”. Nobody in the country actually remembers what those plans were about and what came out of them. They are just a few of the unfulfilled promises made by Zave, Mickoski said.