Skopje, 27 November 2024 (MIA) - In his address on the Day of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU) on Wednesday, MANU President Zhivko Popov touched upon the country’s obstacles on the path to membership within the European Union. According to Popov, “the country’s friendship, readiness for cooperation and open dialogue with all, especially the neighboring countries, hasn’t always been reciprocated in the appropriate way”.

“On the contrary, some of them showed a lack of understanding and behaved irrationally. The euroscepticism that has been emerging lately is a result of the obstacles that the EU has unjustly erected on our European path, which above all are related to the internationally accepted obligations with the agreements with Greece and Bulgaria, which were referendum questions that should’ve been respected and whose outcomes are evident with no end in sight. For them, the country made painful compromises, first changing its initial state flag, and then the inviolable name of the country. Despite all this the opening of the process for negotiations with the EU is yet to happen,” Popov said.

The President of MANU said the country should be aware that only through equal dialogue and cooperation with its neighbors and the EU “can we reach rational and acceptable solutions to the created problems”.

“While also preserving the cultural and historic heritage that belongs to the Macedonian people as a European value. But, despite all obstacles, the Macedonian state today is a definitive historical reality with an affirmed, complete historic identity and international legitimacy, and should continue bravely and with dignity down its European path,” Popov said.

Popov also touched upon the initiative for the establishment of an Albanian academy of sciences in the country, calling it “irrational and unfounded”.

“In Macedonia, as in all unitary countries in the region and the world, there is only one national academy that represents the country in the European and other international associations of academies. Therefore, the current pressure over the establishment of a monoethnic Albanian academy is irrational and unfounded. But, in line with the practices of other countries, associations on science and arts can be established as citizens’ associations, or academies within the frameworks of the professional associations in certain areas,” Popov said.

In his address, Popov also welcomed the Government’s initiative to involve MANU in the creation of a comprehensive project that will lead to priority documents for the country’s development until 2050.

“The intention to revitalize the connection between MANU and the country’s leadership deserves special attention at a time when the lack of basic values upon which to build the social system is increasingly noticeable. Consequently, on this occasion, on my behalf and on behalf of MANU, I would like to voice sincere gratitude to the Prime Minister in the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, Hristijan Mickoski, for his unreserved support of the Academy,” Popov said. 

Photo: MIA