The inscription "The Bulgarians in the Charter", written on the Vardar river pier in the Macedonian capital Skopje, survived only a few days. The inscription was quickly erased with white paint in less than a week.
The Bulgarian flag painted next to it also lasted for a short time. The inscription itself was a partial correction of the message written in April "Bulgarians in the Constitution is treason", a BGNES reported. The original graffiti expressed the opposition of the ruling pro-Serb establishment in Skopje to North Macedonia's obligation to include Bulgarians in the constitution as a state-building people in order to start real EU membership negotiations. This obligation stems from the European consensus that was reached in July 2022 between the EU and the government in Skopje. Prime Minister Mickoski calls the European Consensus a 'Bulgarian dictate', even though this 'dictate' is supported by all 28 EU countries.
Officially, the responsibility for the inscription "Bulgarians in the Constitution is a betrayal" was taken by the pro-Russian Left Party, from which no consequences followed for it. The inscription "proudly" stood untouched for half a year. Not a single political figure, party or institution in North Macedonia condemned this racist and discriminatory act, defining the European consensus as treason.
BGNES recalls that the constitution of North Macedonia grants collective rights to the separate ethnic communities it recognises, which together make up today's Macedonian nation. The collective rights enable these communities to learn in their mother tongue, to have schools, educational programmes, radio, television, etc. In the basic law, the communities of Albanians, Turks, Serbs, Vlachs, Bosniaks and Roma are recognised alongside Macedonians. Without any legal basis, the government of Prime Minister Mickoski categorically opposed Bulgarians being recognised as a community with collective rights and being written into the constitution. This decision of his stops North Macedonia's path to EU membership.
In order to avoid the lack of an alternative, Mickoski panics and tries to put the blame on Bulgaria, saying that "there are no guarantees that this will be Bulgaria's last condition". He points out that from the time of its independence in 1992 until now North Macedonia has changed its currency, flag and name and can no longer make changes. Mickoski conveniently omits the fact that none of these changes were linked to a Bulgarian request. He also completely ignores the fact that Bulgaria was the first to recognise Macedonia's independence, helping during the Greek embargo and the country's civil war in 2001.
Apart from the Bulgarians, among the communities awaiting recognition are the Croats, Montenegrins and Jews. Prime Minister Christian Mickoski has no objections to their inclusion, although Croatia as an EU member has also supported the European Consensus of 2022. Mickoski 's 's refusal to constitutionally change is motivated solely by the listing of Bulgarians. This position is increasingly recognised in the EU as discriminatory and racist, as it is based on the Bulgarian ethnic origin of this group of Macedonian citizens.
Mickoski also pursues a policy of ethnic denial towards the Bulgarians, who, according to him, are only "a few hundred people". Against this claim of the Macedonian prime minister stands the information that so far more than 200 thousand citizens of North Macedonia have received Bulgarian citizenship on the grounds of Bulgarian origin and identity.
Attempts to manipulate and present North Macedonia as a victim of the 'Bulgarian dictate' were destroyed by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who very clearly and categorically told Mickoski : 'Changes to the Constitution are your duty' during her visit to Skopje.
Thus, the whitewashing of the inscription "Bulgarians in the Constitution" remains the only "success" of the government in Skopje on its EU membership path. Prime Minister Mickoski's next "success" will be to reverse North Macedonia's geopolitical orientation from Brussels and Washington to Belgrade and Moscow. | БГНЕС
