Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan
Mickoski has criticized the double standards he says exist in
the European Union when it comes to defending human rights and
peoples' identity. "When Russia attacks and denies Ukrainian
identity, we all make our voices heard, criticize and fight for
the rights of the Ukrainian people and against such
unprecedented aggression. But when the parliament of a member
state of the European Union attacks and denies Macedonian
dentity and my mother tongue, Macedonian, then everybody shut
up," Mickoski said speaking today at a panel on the Balkans at
the Munich Security Conference. The reference to Bulgaria, with
which North Macedonia has been engaged in a historical, identity
and language dispute for years, was clear. Although accession
negotiations between Skopje and the EU formally opened more than
two years ago, talks have never really begun because of the
blockade implemented by Sofia, which demands official
recognition of the Bulgarian minority in North Macedonia and its
inclusion in the Macedonian constitution.
This point finds resistance from Skopje's current
nationalist leadership, both Mickoski's government and President
Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, both of whom hold strongly
conservative positions. Noting how Skopje's path to the EU began
long before Albania and even Croatia, Mickoski said that for
Northern Macedoania the meritocratic system is just a fairy
tale. "We are victims of bilateralization and our path to the EU
is very complex," said the premier, for whom "instead of
bringing Europe to the Balkans, we brought the Balkans to
Europe. Unfortunately, there are EU member countries in the
Balkan region that have brought bilateral disputes to Brussels,
instead of bringing Brussels values to the Balkans." Mickoski
then referred to the speech at the conference by U.S. Vice
President J.D. Vance, who attacked European democracies,
accusing Europe of straying from its basic democratic
principles. "I hear comments that Vance's speech was a serious
interference in internal affairs. But aren't name changes, flag
changes, currency changes interference in the internal affairs
of a sovereign country? How much longer will we have to suffer
double standards? We are not talking about a merit-based process
here, we are talking about bilateral disputes that should have
nothing to do with European values," the Macedonian premier
noted.
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