The agreement on friendship, good neighborliness and cooperation between Macedonia and Bulgaria is recognized by all citizens and over 75 percent are against the initiative to hold a referendum for its cancellation, initiated by the leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski.

This was stated today by the former prime minister and signatory of the Agreement, Zoran Zaev, answering journalist’s questions on the sidelines of the Conference: “MKBG2023: Youth and education as a key to a stronger Euro-Atlantic alliance”, at which Ilhan Kyuchyuk, MEP and reporter of the European Parliament for Macedonia was awarded the title of honorary doctor of sciences (Doctor Honoris Causa).

This is recognized by all citizens, over 75 percent are against such a referendum initiative, and the other 25 percent are there because they are the members of VMRO-DPMNE. You will not find anyone in the world someone who would be against friendship, good neighborliness, cooperation. Our Macedonian people and all ethnic communities in Macedonia will not support that, said Zaev.

The former prime minister emphasized that the final goal and task of everyone, especially politicians, is to ensure a future for their people, for the entire region, for the entire European continent and to set a positive example at the world level in politics.

I am convinced that our friendship, good neighborliness and cooperation will be an example in the future, and from that aspect, as a former builder of that friendship, a signatory of the Agreement, I am sending a message to the politicians in Macedonia and Bulgaria to nurture friendship and good neighborliness, said Zaev.

He stated that he is proud not only of the Agreement with Bulgaria, but also of the Prespa Agreement. With them, as he said, we rebuilt our friendships with our neighbors and added that as a former prime minister, he is available to provide assistance in building good relations between Skopje and Sofia, and he also offered assistance in terms of business cooperation.

Regarding whether there is political will in the country for amendments to the Constitution and for the inclusion of the Bulgarian minority, Zaev expressed his belief that there is, stressing that there are seven ethnic communities in our Constitution, and that the amendments are about including our citizens with Bulgarian, Montenegrin, Croatian self-awareness.

I think that this issue, which should be resolved as soon as possible. Croatia, which is a member state of the EU, for example, has 24 ethnic communities in its Constitution. We understand the Bulgarian Constitution, it is different from our Constitution, it is along the lines of France, the US and others, and we are a multi-ethnic country, and I believe that we will soon do so and move towards opening chapters with the EU, Zaev noted.