For and against the referendum, VMRO-DPMNE is struggling to define the issue

Citizens near the EU InfoCentre in Skopje
Citizens near the EU InfoCentre in Skopje / Photo: "Free Press" / Dragan Mitreski

Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski remains on the already known position regarding the referendum proposed by VMRO-DPMNE and for which party consultations on the referendum issue are still ongoing. Both Kovacevski and the leader of the opposition party Hristijan Mickoski yesterday from Tetovo, where the campaign for councilors for the extraordinary elections on August 20 began, repeated their different positions on this issue. President Stevo Pendarovski, on the other hand, says that he does not have any understanding of VMRO-DPMNE's request for a referendum and assesses that it is a manipulation which, as he says, Hristijan Mickoski does quite unexpectedly. In an interview, European Ambassador David Geer also spoke, who said that the issue of a referendum is a sovereign decision and he will not comment on it, but that one should still look back here and see the big picture.

Kovacevski said yesterday that the referendum proposed by VMRO-DPMNE is irrelevant and that the country has started negotiations for joining the EU. According to him, the referendum announced by VMRO-DPMNE is for internal party use.

- First, the Republic of North Macedonia declared in a referendum at the time of independence that it wanted an independent EU and NATO member state. VMRO - DPMNE is a party that was against membership in NATO, now together with their new coalition partner Lefty are the only two parties that are against membership in the EU and they clearly showed this during the vote for the EU proposal regarding the start of negotiations with the Northern Republic Macedonia. However, the dominant number of MPs, 68 representing the citizens, made a decision for the Republic of North Macedonia to start negotiations. The referendum that the president of VMRO-DPMNE is talking about is only for their internal political use because there is no political party except his partner Left, which is against NATO and the EU and is for a Central Asian alliance with Russia, if it is against the EU, Kovacevski said. .

According to him, VMRO-DPMNE should ideologically clarify whether it wants to see the country in the EU or not. The message to the opposition party of Prime Minister Kovacevski is that North Macedonia has started the negotiations with pure Macedonian language, with protected identities and confirmed not only by the Government but also by the President of the EC and the Vice President of the EC.

- From the day of holding the first intergovernmental conference, this country started the path to joining the EU. From that road, there is no going back, there is no left, and even less right, that is, to the east, so the request of VMRO-DPMNE for some kind of referendum, which should be a statement against joining the EU, is completely irrelevant, Kovacevski said.

VMRO-DPMNE reacted to this statement stating that by going against the referendum, Kovacevski multiplied the people by zero, and the people will show him that he is zero.

Later, the leader of the party, Hristijan Mickoski, in a statement to the media, also from Tetovo, where the elections for the local council began, emphasized that the party's consultations on the referendum issue are ongoing and very soon the next session of the Executive Committee will discuss that topic and the public will knows their steps for the referendum statement.

- I commented that we have made progress in the attitude of President Pendarovski. I see that he also publicly stands behind the idea of ​​a referendum. He even went a step further and proposed a question text, and roughly we both converge towards such an essence of that question. I expect that, unlike Kovachevski, he will be wiser and come out and call on the citizens and other political parties to support the referendum statement, Mickoski said.

Commenting on Prime Minister Kovacevski's statement that the referendum will be irrelevant because the country has started negotiations for joining the EU, Mickoski said that he is an "illegitimate prime minister" and that how relevant the referendum is will be seen in Tetovo on August 20 when the councilors are voted for.

- Only an illegitimate prime minister appointed in the manner in which he is appointed can consider the people's voice irrelevant, and how relevant he is will be seen here in Tetovo on August 20, when the councilor list of the SDSM will experience a classic debacle from the citizens of Tetovo. and in the next parliamentary elections, he personally and his policies as an illegitimate prime minister will experience a debacle from the citizens of Macedonia, said Mickoski, who today was in a meeting with the party branch in Tetovo, which started the campaign for the elections.

President Pendarovski, speaking in a television interview about whether he is in favor of a referendum on the French proposal, said that what Mickoski is doing is a political mobilization of his membership.

- They are struggling to make wording, point 4, paragraph 5, we will dispute it from the frame. Do you know what that is? It is the Prespa Agreement and the Agreement with Bulgaria. You cannot enter either Europe or NATO if you do not have agreements with your neighbors. I say go ahead and ask, but it's fair to say you're against it. Only one question is relevant for me, whether you want the Republic of North Macedonia to be a member of the EU, that's all, said Pendarovski.

I claim, added Pendarovski, that on such a simple question, the pro-European coalition will defeat the anti-European coalition composed of VMRO-DPMNE and Left.

– If it doesn't happen like that. All of us who are now in this place will step back and say go ahead, you have very wide options, you have the non-aligned movement, you have Asia, you have Russia..., said Pendarovski.

European ambassador David Geer said in a weekly interview on Radio Free Europe that with the way the agreement was made, the negotiations are open, the screening has started and that we had something called an intergovernmental conference that started the whole process.

- When the screening will be completed at this stage, to go to the next point it is necessary to have another intergovernmental conference, said Geer.

The holding of that intergovernmental conference, as he added, depends on this bilateral agreement between the two countries concerned.

- Of course, it is a sovereign decision for North Macedonia to change the Constitution, even though you already have a good track record in inter-ethnic relations and this will further define that. But what happens if it doesn't go ahead? I think the most likely scenario will be that the negotiation process stops there. You will complete the screening, but the holding of the intergovernmental conference and the next steps will await the resolution of this issue. Not because a third country came and vetoed it, but because this country decided to withdraw from the commitment made bilaterally with Bulgaria, Gir said.

Asked to comment on the announced referendum, the European ambassador said that "for holding a possible referendum, I will say again that this is a sovereign decision for this country to make, so I will not specifically comment on it."

– But then again maybe we can step back and see the big picture here. The strategic choice that this country has made for many years is to enter the EU and the process has now begun. Why is it important? There are numerous clear reasons why this country will benefit from EU membership and the EU will benefit from having you as part of the family. On the economic side, the EU is the largest single market in the world and also your neighbor. This offers huge opportunities for business, for trade, for investment, for improving living standards and livelihoods, for ensuring that young people develop the necessary skills to compete in the labor market in this larger single market. But it is not only that. There are other very clear benefits from EU membership, Geer says.

It is up to VMRO-DPMNE, he says, to state its position on these different issues, as it is up to all parties to do so.

– I don't want to enter and give views on specific parties. We are ready to talk with all partners who are committed to the European integration path, Gir said.

The campaign for the extraordinary elections for the municipal council started yesterday in Tetovo, and the campaign also started in Mavrovo and Rostuše and in Centar Župa, where mayors are to be elected in the elections on August 20.

Although the annual vacations are in progress, almost all the parties have started their campaign activities there, and at a meeting with the municipal branches in Tetovo yesterday were also the leaders of the two largest parties of the Macedonians SDSM and VMRO - DPMNE, Kovacevski and Mickoski. Alliance for Albanians and Besa held promotions of candidates for councilors.

The campaign for the election of mayors in the Municipality of Mavrovo and Rostushte and Centar Zupa also started yesterday and will last until August 18.

Source: MIA

 

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