Skopje, 11 September 2023 (MIA) — Germany's special envoy for the Western Balkans Manuel Sarrazin is in Skopje on Sept. 11-12 for talks with representatives of the government and the opposition.

Sarrazin's visit is viewed as a new diplomatic bid for the country's changing the Constitution after he said in a MIA interview in June that after adopting the constitutional amendments, North Macedonia's path to the European Union would be irreversible.

Sarrazin is meeting Monday with Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, and VMRO-DPMNE opposition party leader Hristijan Mickoski.

On Tuesday, the German envoy is set to meet with Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Bojan Marichikj and to also participate in a conference on improving the Berlin Process through parliamentary democracy.

Sarrazin, who participated in the Prespa Forum in June, said in an interview with MIA at the time that North Macedonia should not stall on its EU path.

"North Macedonia doesn’t have much time to lose, because we don’t know what will happen, considering the war in Ukraine. This is the moment that the European Union has asked you to step closer. If you now get to opening the clusters after the constitutional change, I think the path of the country toward the EU is irreversible.

"You have made a very important step. Everybody knows that your country will join. We don’t know how fast, but nobody will turn the country around any more. We see what is happening in your neighborhood and how dangerous it is, with violent outbreaks on the streets happening again suddenly after so many years, and what this means for the feelings of the people in this region," the German diplomat said in June.

He went on to say that Germany was against reopening the negotiating framework.

"The Negotiating Framework was unanimously decided at the 27 EU Council. We will not start opening such a decision-making process again. It was adopted and it cannot be changed. It is a guarantee for North Macedonia and it cannot be changed easily so that Bulgaria cannot put in new conditions later on. This was one of the key points of last year’s proposal. So it is totally unrealistic that we will open it again," Sarrazin said in the intervies. mr/