Skopje, 19 September 2022 (MIA) - It's realistic that the country could join the EU at the next enlargement only if we are fully devoted to this statesman-like project, but it's impossible to predict exactly when it could happen, neither the member countries have the answer. This process depends on the reform implementation progress of the negotiating countries, said Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Bojan Marichikj. It depends on us and our preparedness to implement the reforms, he told Lokalno web-portal in an interview. According to Marichikj, the new methodology requires increased engagement by the negotiating countries all the while providing a chance for swiftness and dynamic of the process. "That's why I believe that with such a clear goal before us and a political will and strengthened focus on reforms we can move ahead with a good tempo. I believe 2030 is a well-set deadline to serve as a motivation to guide us through the process and to successfully conclude the negotiations in the established deadline so that North Macedonia can become a full-fledged member of the EU," he said. Both the government and Parliament, Marichikj stated, must complete the constitutional changes, to be made with a clear intent and goal - opening of the chapters of the negotiations, European reforms, European funds and ultimately EU membership. "With this political, institutional and constitutional step we gain a lot, we lose nothing. Including Bulgarians, Montenegrins and Croats in the Constitution in no way harms our country. The government is prepared to open a dialogue with all parliamentary groups and make an atmosphere enabling these changes to happen," the Deputy PM stated. He insisted he is confident that by the time the screening process is completed, the country will implement the constitutional changes envisaged in the so called French proposal in order to be able to resume the negotiations by opening clusters. Marichikj also said he expects some VMRO-DPMNE members to support the changes to the Constitution adding he knows party members who have no doubts as to the country's strategic orientation and European path. "The Macedonian people and all the citizens in North Macedonia need responsible, democratic and European parties both in the government and the opposition who lead the country forward, they don't need an opposition that wants to keep the country in uncertainty for their personal gain," he noted. As regards VMRO-DPMNE's demands for a referendum on the Treaty with Bulgaria, Deputy PM Marichikj stressed that international law and international agreements are part of the internal legal order, meaning they cannot be changed or unratified by a law adopted at home. "It's not right, neither from a political nor from a state point of view, that VMRO-DPMNE has been manipulating the citizens regarding sensitive international issues and that it has been challenging the country's European path through faulty referendum initiatives, for which it is known in advance they will fail," he said. Commenting on Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani's allegations that Russia had spent money to affect the Macedonian politics and the impression that public support for Russian and Chinese policies has been growing compared to the Western ones, Marichikj stressed the country has been always supported by the West and that the people have been on the European track for centuries. "North Macedonia is a democratic and European country not because the current government has decided so, but because the Macedonians and all the citizens here have been on that side since forever, geographically, politically, value-wise and geo-strategically. This path for us represents serious standards, serious respect of human rights, guaranteed rights for every individual and every community, precise tasks, responsibilities and deadlines for every institution aimed at improving institutional services, huge European funds for infrastructural and systemic investments in the country and international respect of our uniqueness, of the Macedonian people and of North Macedonia as a state," Marichikj said. My country, he noted, has never terminated its cooperation with the East, but it is not the side that can provide reforms, freedoms, rights, economic prosperity and European funds especially having in mind that Russia by invading Ukraine violated all civilization values we cherish as a nation and as a state. "Thus, I'm confident North Macedonia will never give up on good neighborliness, friendship and cooperation and will never deviate from the clearly paved European way of stability, better living standard for our citizens," Deputy PM Marichikj concluded in the interview.