Skopje, 8 June 2023 (MIA) — Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Bojan Marichikj said Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski had a clear position and a clear offer to the opposition: to immediately vote on the need to making constitutional changes, then to form a government that would include the opposition, and then to adopt the constitutional changes and complete the screening process with the EU.

"The opposition today seems to be backing away from the position it took yesterday that it approves of the constitutional changes," Marichikj said, commenting on the meeting between SDSM leader and PM Kovachevski and VMRO-DPMNE's leader Hristijan Mickoski on Wednesday.

According to Marichikj, the government is ready to immediately form working groups on the issue as well as to propose a law on the negotiations with the EU that would firmly safeguard Macedonian identity.

"VMRO-DPMNE should not refuse the offered hand for cooperation," he noted.

"We are ready to talk to them as soon as today on whether we could continue the meetings. Not necessarily at the highest level; at any level. The offered hand is generous by all parties. VMRO-DPMNE has no reason not to vote for the constitutional amendments we need so much," Marichikj said. mr/