Mickoski: I only speak to Radev out of politeness, there is no energy for dialogue with us in Bulgaria

The violation of the Prespa Treaty is decided by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and the violation of human rights is decided by the Court of Justice in Strasbourg. This was stated by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia Hristijan Mickoski on the request for the inclusion of Bulgarians in the Constitution of the country, BGNES reports.

Mickoski said that during the meeting in London with Radev he had "just a small meeting of courtesy in the corridors where they exchanged only a few sentences."

"During the meeting I had a conversation with the President of Bulgaria, Mr. Radev. It was a conversation of a few sentences and we emphasized that we should sit down and agree to find a lasting solution because as good neighbors, we should also present ourselves regionally to third countries. It was a meeting out of courtesy. I got the impression that he was not sure that there would be a regular government in Bulgaria any time soon and that there would be new elections in the autumn, in October. At this stage, I assess that there is no energy on their side at the moment for dialogue and unblocking this process," he said.

He backed what Foreign Minister Timcho Mutsunski said regarding Bulgaria and the changes in the Constitution.

Two days ago, Mutsunski said that "North Macedonia is ready to accept constitutional changes, with a delayed implementation, thus giving a guarantee to North Macedonia as a country that there will be no additional new conditions from Bulgaria on a bilateral basis on our way to the European Union." "In terms of respect for inter-ethnic relations we are an example, and on human and minority rights we even exceed European standards. The argument from the Bulgarian side that we do not respect the rights of Bulgarians in the country is not legitimate and fair. Bulgarians can be listed as an ethnic group in our Constitution, along with Croats, Montenegrins ..., but this should be done on a deferred basis until the country's EU membership protocols are ratified. We need to have a guarantee that during this period we will only be assessed by objective and measurable criteria," the Macedonian foreign minister added.

"We have done too much in the past, as much as no nation in Europe. We changed the flag, the coat of arms, the banknotes, the Constitution several times, the name of the country... Everything that could be changed to humiliate us as a nation, we did. I don't know what else was left... And always without exception every time we were told that this was the last, but there was always something else," Mickoski added.

He reiterated that it is not the job of the Macedonian government to monitor human rights violations, while accusing Bulgaria of such violations:

"One of the solutions is this. Our job as politicians is not to monitor whose human rights are violated. This area has its own institution called the Court of Human Rights, which has ruled 14 times in favor of the Macedonians in Bulgaria that their rights have been violated, and not a single verdict for violation of the rights of Bulgarians in Macedonia," he said.

The prime minister asked: "what will happen if tomorrow a new government in Bulgaria tells us that we cannot continue negotiations with the EU until we accept that Ilinden was a Bulgarian-Preobrazhensky uprising" or that "Gotse Delchev and Dame Gruev were Bulgarians?". | BGNES