Skopje, 21 November 2023 (MIA) - The outcome of the EU December Summit depends on us, i.e. on whether the opposition in the country will outgrow itself in terms of adopting the constitutional amendments that are our obligation and condition to open the chapters of the negotiations, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said in response to a reporter's question at Tuesday's joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.  

"The December Summit will show that what will happen there depends on us. If we make the decision that is our obligation regarding the inclusion of other parts of nations in the Preamble of our Constitution, then the decision of the December Summit will be positive, and North Macedonia will open the chapters. And that is why I say that now it is up to us, because the European Union delivered - we had the first intergovernmental conference in Macedonian language, the signing of the Frontex agreement in Macedonian language along with all other languages of the EU, approved by all EU member states which was never the case before. They delivered on their promises, and now it remains on us to deliver our obligations," Kovachevski said in response to a reporter's question on expectations from the EU's December Summit. 

Regarding another aspect of the December Summit, he pointed to the opposition's stance on the constitutional amendments.  

"What the December Summit will be like, it not only depends on us, but it will show in what way it depends on each of us. Whether those, who have always been against integration of the country in NATO and in the EU, will this time outgrow themselves. If they outgrow themselves, at the December Summit we will have a decision with which North Macedonia will open the chapters for accession to the EU. If they do not outgrow themselves, then we'll see again the 11 summits of NATO, and 11 summits of EU while they were in power, and when nothing happened and no decision was made, and we did not move a single inch forward in Euro-integration. We'll only have a situation when Nikola Gruevski is replaced with Hristijan Mickoski, one leader replaced with another one who has the same approach to politics," said Kovachevski. 

Asked about the concrete benefits from the European Commission's Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, Kovachevski said it is an exceptionally important plan, with which the citizens and the companies will see the EU benefits even before the full-fledged membership. 

"This plan in practice offers EUR 6 billion in funds for the Western Balkan countries, 2 billion in grant and 4 billion in favorable loans, guaranteed by the European Union, and that is why the interest rates will be much lower. And this will be related to reforms in the countries that are candidate countries for EU membership, and additionally, they will be intended for projects that will increasse the economic and political cooperation between the Western Balkan countries. In that way, through the investments in these reforms, in these projects, annually ten percent, due to the increased cooperation of the region and increased cooperation with the common European market, certain parts of the European market will be open to industries from our countries. This will be ten percent higher in GDP, and economies of the region, and in ten years this will mean that we will have double the size of the economies of the Western Balkans. So this is a plan that offers positive effects over the economy, the living standard of the citizens, and the operation of the companies. Of course, on the other hand, it comes with an obligation in terms of reforms for improvement of the society of our country but also of the other countries in the region," said PM Kovachevski. 

Photo: Government of the Republic of North Macedonia