In a Kanal 5 TV interview, VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski acknowledged that the party is under pressure to accept the Bulgarian request for constitutional amendments. This would include the Bulgarian nation among the other nations cited in the Constitution, even though Bulgaria refuses to recognize its Macedonian minority and casts doubt on the uniqueness of the Macedonian nation.

If you ask me if there is pressure, if there are unpleasant meetings, I will tell you yes, there is pressure and there are unpleasant meetings. But if you ask me if I’m about to fall to this pressure, I assure you that I’m not moving a millimeter. The arguments I put forward are not based on spite but on logic. We talk and we debate them, Mickoski said.

The ruling SDSM – DUI – AA coalition does not have the votes to amend the Constitution, which can’t be done without at least partial support from VMRO-DPMNE.

– We made clear our position in 2022. We offered that we join teams that will lead the talks with Bulgaria and that will support the Government. We knew that Kovacevski, as he was appointed in January 2022, is no Kissinger and he can’t achieve a diplomatic win a matter of months. But unfortunately our offer was declined, Mickoski added. He said that a meeting with Kovacevski that included top officials from both sides failed and did not achieve much. “They chose to enter in an adventure and that created a problem”.
VMRO leader Hristijan Mickoski addressed the prospect that, if there is no agreement with Bulgaria, Macedonia will be stuck in its EU integration. “VMRO-DPMNE has a three pillar plan that includes economic, political and national solutions and will be implemented”.

To begin with, we need to have elections. We are willing to give up on having a technical Government. Their side organized the Przino talks, a colored revolution, rampaged, threw paint, demolished. But we are willing to accept no concessions and to have elections by June 11th, without a technical government. Let Oliver Spasovski remain as Interior Minister, we won’t offer our candidates. We will present our plan before the citizens. If they accept it, then we will implement it, Mickoski said.

He told the Kanal 5 TV viewers that VMRO-DPMNE sees Macedonia as part of the European Union but that the real question is what Macedonia gains if it makes concessions now.

VMRO-DPMNE has a major lead over SDSM in the polls, but generally needs to make a coalition with an Albanian party, and DUI, due to its institutional capture, continues to lead in the Albanian camp. Mickoski said that a coalition with DUI is not a desirable scenario for VMRO-DPMNE. “It’s our least favored option. We are talking about accountability and we can’t have ministers who respond to their party leader and not to the Prime Minister. I will be the candidate for Prime Minister and I will not have such people in my cabinet”, he said, adding that the coalition partner will be known after the elections.