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Skopje – As a Government, we cannot enter a naive process where we make concessions without having a clear guarantee that as a country we will be part of the European family. Since no one can guarantee us anything, we cannot be as optimistic as we would like to be. Therefore, we will lead these two processes towards full EU membership and completing domestic tasks in parallel, but we are ready for talks, said today Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski.
– From what I can hear and from what I can witness from those talks, there is an interest in moving the region towards the EU among certain parties. There is no dilemma here, and we as a country are part of that region. Our strategic goal remains full EU membership. We support all those regional initiatives like the Berlin Process, CEFTA, etc., because within them we find it easier to articulate our positions and we need to be precise in that. But our main strategic goal is full EU membership, something we deserved a long time ago, said Mickoski in response to a journalist’s question whether at meetings with European officials he discussed the intention to adopt constitutional amendments with deferred effect and whether there is any support for that.
He emphasized that constitutional amendments with deferred effect are a possible solution if there are guarantees for full EU membership.
– One of the possible solutions is what you mentioned, but it is conditional on having a clear guarantee for full membership within the EU, and that it will be within the promises given in 2018 that it would last a maximum of four to five years. As a Government, we will do our best to realize those negotiations. But from what I can see at the moment, and from what we hear, no one can guarantee us anything. Since no one can guarantee us anything, we cannot be as optimistic as we would like to be. Therefore, we will lead these two processes towards full EU membership and completing domestic tasks in parallel. We will focus on both, but we will pay more attention to the process that depends only on us, which is completing domestic tasks. If a two-way street emerges on the other side, we are here and ready to talk, so let’s leave it to both sides, as it is not enough for only one side to want it, Mickoski emphasized.
Prime Minister Mickoski confirmed that the Government will react in relation to the cancellation of the Macedonian Language Center in Lerin by providing logistical support. However, he stated, they will not allow themselves to be drawn into Greece’s internal political disputes.
The Appeals Court in Kozani, Greece, recently made a decision to annul the registration of the Macedonian Language Center in Lerin. The Center’s activists announced that they will use all legal means and will appeal to the Greek Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. (September 2)