Did the government understand the messages coming from French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Council Chairperson, Charles Michel, does the government deliberately play stupid, or worse – they really didn’t understand the messages?

At the Bled Strategic Forum, Michel said that the EU must be prepared for a new wave of enlargement by 2030. The Macedonian government welcomed this statement with ovations because it proves them right, and they already started celebrating our EU membership by 2030. Both the PM Kovachevski and the Vice-PM Marichikj gave statements in that spirit.

But they forgot that Macedonia is not the only European country waiting to start the negotiations. There are Moldova and Ukraine, and probably Georgia, too.

Many experts warned of the misinterpretation of these statements. According to the former economy minister, Xhevdat Hajredini, the statement that Macedonia and the other candidates will be ready to join the EU is incorrect.

“Charles Michel didn’t say that candidate countries will be prepared to join the Union by 2030, but that the EU must be prepared to enlarge by 2030, which is not the same thing. Macron didn’t say even that”, Hajredini explains.

Ignoring French President Macron’s statement is even scarier. He clearly stated to all who want to hear that Europe needs time to reform before accepting new members.