Ohrid, 8 June 2022 (MIA) – Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said Wednesday that the European Union will always be the only strategic goal of North Macedonia and there’s no substitute for it. Kovachevski gave his statement at the Open Balkan Summit press conference in Ohrid, in response to MIA’s question on whether the Open Balkan will remain the only realistic initiative for the country if Bulgaria doesn’t lift its veto at the upcoming EU summit. PM Kovachevski stressed that the government has duty to secure better living standards for the citizens, better infrastructure and better political system with all of its attributes such as the rule of law, fight against corruption, efficiency of administration and of all institutions. “Citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia cannot be held hostage to await dates in every next summit of the European Union. Therefore, from the onset of my mandate and term of office I said I’m not tying myself to any dates because I don’t want to raise the expectations on something that does not depend on us,” said Kovachevski. He added that the country has had four positive follow-up reports from the European Commission, as well as 45 percent alignment of national legislation with the EU acquis. “The EU has not delivered its promises so far, and we believe that one day this will happen as a result of harmonization and talks we will have based on European values,” said Kovachevski. Kovachevski said NATO membership has been achieved as one of the strategic goals, because the Alliance has fulfilled its promises. “We achieved the first strategic goal because NATO kept its promise. We have made difficult decisions on the path to NATO and the EU, and these decisions were very difficult for all the citizens. We have made many sacrifices along the way.” Open Balkans, he stressed, is an original, organic initiative of the three countries because it is based on European values, “because the citizens of Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia, I believe of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, and Kosovo one day, are entitled to live based on EU values ​​and to cooperate with each other.” “Is it difficult to see that the only borders existing in Europe at the moment are the Balkans borders. Once you exit Serbia on the north and on the west, there are no borders up to Scandinavia. Therefore, this initiative is the best one and has only strengths and no weaknesses, because it’s autonomous, autochthonous and it only departs from citizens’ needs and the businesses’ needs to raise living standards,” Kovachevski noted. Asked to comment on Slavi Trifonov's party "There is Such a People" pulling from the Government in Bulgaria because of North Macedonia, PM Kovachevski stressed that it is an internal matter of Bulgaria. As regards talks with Bulgaria, he said: “In all negotiations there are minimum requirements for them to be successful, and one is the confidentiality of the negotiating parties…We are a country that has a Ministry and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs who used their full capacity in the past five months to negotiate, they offered solutions and exchanged ideas with the Republic of Bulgaria, in order to lift the veto and reach a sustainable agreement that will be based on European values,” said Kovachevski. On the other hand, he added, at no point did we instrumentalize, politicize or use the issue of negotiations with Bulgaria and EU membership as a governing coalition for internal political use. “The other side has constantly instrumentalized this issue and used it for internal political use, and still after five months we as a country are open to talk through the mediation of the EU Presidency and EC, because we are a credible partner both for neighbors and for the EU,” said Kovachevski, among other. In the past five years as a state, stressed Prime Minister Kovachevski, we have proven that we can solve all open issues with our neighbors. The Prespa Agreement is the base of our international politics, he added. "Thanks to the resolution of the problems with Greece, today we are a NATO member state and we are to start negotiations with the European Union," said Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski in response to a reporter’s question.