National interest is what’s most important. If we had a consensus on many issues, they would have looked at us differently, and the way they treat us from the outside shows that we have encouraged them that constitutional amendments are the main solution, Macedonian President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova said in the second part of her interview with MIA.
“If we had a consensus on many issues and had not excluded the opposition – and now it should not be excluded, there is no democracy without the opposition – it would have been much easier to say: ‘Excuse me, we have reservations about this solution, it is not exactly like that. We have to ask everyone, let us find out for them.’ They would have looked at us differently. But the way they behaved, they treat us from the outside, shows that we have encouraged them that constitutional amendments are the main solution. And, excuse me, 36 amendments, and now new ones. Have they decided anything? – No,” added the President.
Siljanovska-Davkova believes that the solution should come first from home and says that she tried to establish contact with the opposition, because, as she said, “we should not go abroad without reaching an agreement at home”.
“I tried, believe me, I tried with the best of intentions to establish contact with the opposition, to explain that if we are unanimous at home, let’s not go, first, abroad, without reaching an agreement at home. Secondly, let’s learn that what is said at home is not said abroad. I often quote Helmut Kohl when he was asked in Spain about the problems with party financing, and he said: ‘I can’t answer here, I’ll do it when I get home’. We love to tell stories in front of others and we are very impressed by compliments. Even when we are aware that they don’t look like us, we think that’s how it is. And then we do some things that are not good. They are not good at all,” said President Siljanovska-Davkova.
