Let’s Europeanize and become compatible in line with the Copenhagen criteria. We can do this by not wasting time on solving historical issues, because they are not part of EU’s constitutional acts, Macedonian President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova told Macedonian news agency MIA in an interview Saturday.
“Article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union calls for respect for dignity, freedom, equality, democracy, rule of law, human rights including minority ones. This is something tied to the 1993 Copenhagen criteria,” notes Siljanovska Davkova and adds that Article 49 of the treaty reads their fulfillment is a requirement for membership, both political and legal.
“Article 4, Paragraph 2, is maybe even more relevant in our case, something that constitutional law refers to as a national identity clause, because it clearly states that the Union shall respect the equality of all members, not only those inside but those that want to join as well. Why? Because it relates to national identity, cultural identity and the most important aspect – the fundamental political and constitutional structures of the state,” said the Macedonian head of state.
Siljanovska-Davkova also refers to Article 4, Paragraph 3, which requires sincere cooperation, as is the bona fide principle in the Bulgaria Good Neighborliness Treaty.
“Therefore, friendship and good neighborliness, not hostility and veto. The essence of friendship and goodneighborliness lies in the Treaty’s Preamble, which says that our neighbor shall help us along the way with its own experiences and open the EU path. This sounds Scandinavian, but it’s not materializing,” said the President.
The President says that instead of constitutional patriotism, the country has oftentimes preferred constitutional relativism and even constitutional nihilism.
“The proof lies in the 36 amendments, most of which were initiated from abroad. The question is whether the sovereignty came from the people when doing these amendments, because all preambles usually start with ‘We, the people…’, and yet it seems that here it should state ‘We, the people and the international community…’ or ‘We, the people and the European Union…’ I belong to the group of constitutionalists, who always read EU’s founding or constitutional acts not only through the eyes of the Union members but also of the candidates, and believe they (the candidates) should be Europeanized by opening chapters, clusters, or already possess the European capacity when they join,” said President Siljanovska Davkova in the interview.
