The Minister of Justice of North Macedonia, Bojan Marichikj, attributed part of his party’s disastrous defeat in the recent municipal elections to the stagnation of EU accession negotiations. He told EURACTIV that the Skopje government will be more cautious in the future.
The confrontation between Bulgaria and North Macedonia began in the fall of 2020, after Sofia refused to bless Skopje to begin formal accession negotiations on the grounds of the ongoing debate over language and common history.
Since then, because Sofia did not have a stable government, the process of joining the European Union of North Macedonia and Albania has been stalled, and the progress of these two countries has so far been related to Skopje.
At the same time, the ruling Macedonian Social Democratic Union (SDSM) and leader Zoran Zaev suffered Major failure In the municipal elections, the main opposition center-right VMRO-DPMN made progress.
Zayev promised to step down.
Although in the end there is a stable government Seems to be in rIn each Bulgaria, the first step is unlikely to focus on the veto, but the ongoing COVID crisis and corruption.
Bulgarian Ambassador to the European Union Rumen Alexandrov comfirmed Sofia will not lift the veto on Thursday (November 26). In view of this situation, Albania should decouple from North Macedonia and conduct an independent assessment based on its own progress.
According to North Macedonia’s Minister of Justice Bojan Maricki, “citizens’ disappointment with the European integration situation and the failure to start negotiations on time” was one of the factors that led to the party’s loss of election.
Since the executive took office in 2017, “as the government and society, we have made a lot of efforts to get back to the European track”, he said, “and we have done a lot of work in reforms”.
“And I think all this is not enough for the EU to start negotiations,” the minister said.
“We are very grateful to all EU member states for their support. However, we will be more grateful than we expected when the EU started negotiations,” he added.
A recent poll conducted by the Skopje Institute of Political Science (IPIS) from November 19 to 21 Established The opposition VMRO-DPMNE now has a maximum support of 22.5%. SDSM ranks second with 17.5%.
He promised that his party’s focus will be on maintaining a majority in Parliament, the COVID crisis and its economic impact, energy crisis, And the process of European integration.
When asked whether it is a mistake to put all eggs in a metaphorical EU basket, Marichikj said: “I don’t think it’s wrong to trust the EU and really try to get our society back on the European track.”
“But perhaps we should take a look, and perhaps take more cautious actions in the next period, so as not to fall into the same situation,” he added.
Marichikj stated that his government still hopes that the EU can fulfill it, which will affect the entire region.
In his view, the beginning of negotiations with Skopje will “evaluate this way of supporting European narratives, European policies, and European solutions to problems, which is the only way for other countries in the Western Balkans.”
When asked whether his government will reduce its narrative of the EU from now on, he said: “It will depend on the developments in Europe.”
Nevertheless, Marichikj promised to continue to push forward reforms, “This is not one or the other, we will do both.”
“But for the sake of the country’s point of view and the impetus for reform, we hope that negotiations will begin.”
[Edited by Alice Taylor]
