The opposition in North Macedonia warned the Government of the Prime Minister, Zoran Zaev, that any agreement to be signed with Bulgaria will be invalid and will have no value for the government formed by VMRO-DPMNE.
“Do not dare to touch the Macedonian identity, the Macedonian language, the uniqueness, the Macedonian history, the tradition, the customs. Do not dare to think and give up the Macedonian minority in our eastern neighbor because the letter you are going to sign is invalid. The next government, which will be a government of unity, does not intend to respect that piece of paper,” the leader of VMRO-DPMNE Hristijan Mickovski said in a public appearance on Monday evening, Radio Free Europe reports.
The opposition leader warned of protests blocking Skopje on Tuesday at noon for almost two hours, while harshly criticizing Prime Minister Zaev by calling him a “political amateur”.
“Only a political amateur can sign an agreement in which the criteria for the progress of [North] Macedonia and its integration within the EU, will be language problems and problems with history. Only a political amateur can bring his country, his people and his nation to such a dependent state. This is why I massively call you, regardless of your political affiliation, regardless of your religious or ethnic affiliation, to join the protest. To speak loudly against these wrong policies of the SDSM Government led by Zoran Zaev,” said Mickovski.
Opposition protests have been taking place in different cities for several days now, following Prime Minister Zaev’s statement to the media in Sofia that “Bulgarians were not fascists”.
He also talked about the closeness of the Bulgarian and Macedonian languages, but did not specify whether he accepted the request of the Bulgarian side that “the Macedonians and their language have Bulgarian roots”.
Following reactions, Zaev said that “we will enter the EU only as Macedonians who speak the Macedonian language”.
Clashes between northern Macedonia and Bulgaria began after Sofia blocked the negotiating framework that would mark the start of talks for North Macedonia joining the European bloc.
