The foreign policy portion of this evening’s televised debate between Zoran Zaev and Hristijan Mickoski was dominated by the name change and the treaty with Bulgaria which Zaev signed, even after the former was rejected by the voters in the failed 2018 referendum. Zaev insisted that his move is courageous and visionary and will bring prosperity to Macedonia, while Mickoski replied that his actions were treasonous and have greatly damaged Macedonian national interests.

Zaev tried to paint Mickoski as an opponent of NATO membership and EU integrations, ot which the VMRO-DPMNE leader responded that the conservative party was the first to initiate the idea of Western alignment of Macedonia, and proposed voting on the NATO accession protocol even without waiting for the last country, Spain, to ratify it. Mickoski counter- accused Zaev of abandoning even that little leverage that Macedonia has in the Prespa treaty when he began renaming all institutions in Macedonia even without waiting for the EU accession talks to open. The Prespa treaty provides that Macedonia has five years to fully implement the imposed name “North Macedonia” in an area of social life – after the relevant chapter of EU accession is opened.

Why were you so hasty with the renaming if you knew about this article?, Mickoski asked Zaev, who was obfuscating in his response.

Mickoski also asked Zaev why he never responds to violations of the treaty from the Greek side, such as the refusal of Greece to consult Macedonia before launching a campaign to promote its northern regions as “Macedonia is GReat”. On the other hand, Zaev insisted that Labour and Welfare Minister Rasela Mizrahi is dismissed, which endangers the conduct of the elections, for holding a press conference in front of a sign that says Republic of Macedonia.

Zaev kept insisting that before the Prespa treaty Macedonia was known as FYROM worldwide – an abbreviaton of the “former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” which was used only in Greece. Mickoski responded that Macedonia had successfully fought for the right to use its name and was recognized by nearly all countries as the Republic of Macedonia, before giving away all these gains in the Prespa treaty.

Mickoski reminded Zaev of his promise that there will be no constitutional changes, that he will protect the Macedonian national identity, and that he will only accept the name “Ilinden Macedonia”, which Zaev believed will be welcomed by the Macedonian public but was quickly rejected by Greece. Zaev agreed to have change the Macedonian Constitution for this name, but once the principle was established, he later accepted a constitutional change and a wholesale renaming with the name “North Macedonia”.

I warned you not to accept the package built around the name “Ilinden Macedonia”, that it will only serve to get you to agree to a change of the Constitution, but this name will be withdrawn and replaced with a different name. You didn’t listen, Mickoski reminded Zaev about one of their meetings on the name issue.