The regular session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is being held in Strasbourg, an extremely important session for Macedonia because at this session we will discuss the European perspective of the Western Balkans, of which Macedonia is a part, pointed out the vice-president of VMRO-DPMNE Aleksandar Nikoloski.
“Within the framework of this report, I will especially emphasize the role of Macedonia, as a factor of democracy and stability in the entire region, but I will also say that Macedonia has been waiting for many years to start accession negotiations with the EU. It is unfair because first Greece blocked Macedonia with its veto to start the negotiations, and now Bulgaria is doing the same thing. Bulgaria does it in the worst possible way, disputing Macedonian national identity, Macedonian separateness, culture and history, as well as the uniqueness and existence of the Macedonian language. These are not European values, these are not values that are shared in the Council of Europe and the EU. These are not values that are recognized in Strasbourg and Brussels. And that is why it is very significant that the whole of Europe stands behind Macedonia and supports the beginning of negotiations with the EU without any additional conditions on the part of Bulgaria. The change to the Constitution that Bulgaria is demanding and to which the capitulating Government of SDSM and DUI, unfortunately agreed, is a direct interference in the internal affairs of Macedonia and must not be a condition for the start of accession negotiations with the EU,” Nikoloski pointed out.
