In the past two days the President of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, accompanied by the Deputy President of the Government in charge of European Affairs, Nikola Dimitrov and the Foreign Minister, Bujar Osmani, had meetings with highest representatives of the European Commission and the European Parliament, as well as meetings with several Foreign Ministers of the EU member-states.
The President of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, summarized the results of the meetings of our delegation in a press release.
Below you will find PM’s Zaev statement:
Distinguished citizens,
This week brought us a dynamic agenda on the route Skopje – Brussels – Madrid – Athens. Today, I speak to you from the premises of the Mission of North Macedonia, in Brussels, the heart of the European Union.
We have had meetings with the highest representatives of the European institutions and we made sure that the European Commission and the European Parliament, as well as any other European institution and their key representatives know and understand that our Macedonian identity is not negotiable and never will be.
Von der Leyen, Varhelyi, Sassoli, Borrell, Timmermans, Lajchak, Weber, Kucuk, Ciolos – all European leaders and representatives know and understand our position; while someone is trying, and we see that someone is doing that, to put the Macedonian language and the Macedonian identity on the European negotiation table, we will not negotiate.
We sent a clear message and we reiterated – put away any discussion on the Macedonian language and the Macedonian identity from the negotiations table in Brussels; afterwards we will continue discussing our European future.
We have our pride and our own identity. We can reinforce our pride or we can moderate it, but the Macedonian identity and language are uncontested, they are one and only, they are non-negotiable. Neither my Government, nor any other Government, much less another country or a Union of which we are not a member will be allowed to meddle with Macedonian identity.
We stand with our European friends. We breath, we live and we grow together with the European ideas and values. And we know that we must move forward together, that is the European way. We are in for mobility, not for walls!
On this joint path everyone must deliver – North Macedonia has done a lot, we delivered reforms, we delivered justice – it is time for EU to deliver what was promised.
Distinguished citizens, my people, the European agenda will continue from Brussels to our friends in Madrid, Spain, and afterwards, on the Delfi Economic Forum in Athens, Greece. The European path is a path of cooperation and mutual understanding.
