Skopje, 7 July 2022 (MIA) – The Council of Ambassadors expresses its concern about the radicalization of the political developments in the society with a high potential of disruption of interethnic relations in the country, and it believes that “there seems to be an impression that certain political parties are manipulating the citizens’ emotions for their own political gains, even if that means the disruption of the peaceful interethnic coexistence”. “While recognizing the constitutional right of the citizens to express their positions and feelings through protests in a peaceful and dignified manner, the Council of Ambassadors condemns all forms of vandalism by individuals or organized groups, as could be seen in the past 2 days of the peaceful protests,” said the Executive Board of the Council of Ambassadors, adding that they are carefully following the development of events concerning the public debate on the contents of the French proposal for the country’s EU integration, as well as the citizens’ protests. The Council of Ambassadors said it does not intend to stigmatize politicians or intellectuals, and even less so, it said, the citizens who are protesting or supporting the protests. “But, it opposes the aggressive and irrational outbursts and the physical violence aiming to destabilize the country or violently block the country’s EU integration. The Council also opposes all types of fake news aiming to manipulate public opinion, the incitement of different scenarios stemming from foreign sources, while closely abiding by our NATO orientation and EU integration,” said the Council of Ambassadors in the press release. They call on the citizens to remain calm, and for open dialogue and argumentative discussion to be had by the representatives of political parties in the Assembly and with Government representatives. ad/ba/