North Macedonia’s PM calls Prespa Agreement a ‘reality’
The Prespa Agreement is a political “reality” the new prime minister of North Macedonia Hristijan Mickoski said during a press conference in Skopje on Monday.
The agreement is “part of the constitutional and legal order,” he noted, adding that this was the stance of his party, VMRO-DPMNE, “for years.”
Mickoski’s remarks came after an interview by the US Ambassador to North Macedonia Angela Price Aggeler on Sunday, who said that the Prespa Agreement was “absolutely historic” for the country, while recognizing that “it was extraordinary difficult for many people in this country to accept the change of name.”
“This is something that helped North Macedonia move forward, certainly right into NATO and has also provided many opportunities for it to make progress towards the EU,” she said in an interview for Radio Free Europe.
“We were very pleased to see that the new PM and his ministers said ‘north’ during their swearing in. That’s critically important and a fundamental part of the agreement and we are watching very closely to see how that is respected.”
Asked about Mickoski’s decision to use the adjective ‘north’ only in official communication and “not within the country”, she said that “within respect for the Prespa Agreement, which is critical, there is certain leeway.”
She said that Washington’s current priority for Washington in Skopje is “to now move forward on many of those very important priorities that this country should be talking about,” such as NATO and Ukraine
“There is a certain amount of distraction and score-keeping in terms of who says what when and the important part is respect international agreements, which the PM has said he will and then let’s move on.”
Aggeler noted the importance of good bilateral relations between North Macedonia and Greece. She called Greece’s support for North Macedonia since Prespa “remarkable.”
Asked if the US encourages a new dialogue between North Macedonia and Bulgaria regarding potential changes to the EU negotiating framework, the ambassador ruled out such an option.
“Those agreements have been made, there is not a renegotiation of Prespa, there is not a renegotiation towards the European Union,” she said.
After lifting its veto on opening EU accession talks in the summer of 2022, Bulgaria conditioned further progress on North Macedonia adding the Bulgarian national minority to its constitution. Under the deal struck and agreed by both sides, substantive negotiations with the EU are set to begin only after amendments are passed by the parliament of North Macedonia in the country’s constitution.
Mickoski reiterated his and his party’s opposition to these constitutional changes, saying that they “won’t negotiate dictates and ultimatums.”
He called for reciprocity: should North Macedonia add the Bulgarian community to its constitution, Bulgaria and its president should “respect the human and minority rights of the Macedonian community in Bulgaria”.
David Geer, the EU Ambassador to North Macedonia, said on Monday that he does not see any “possibility of changing the negotiating framework”, adding that this “position has not changed since the elections”.
Luka Pavikjevikj is a summer intern at Kathimerini English Edition and a second-year college student at Harvard University.
