Skopje, 6 July 2022 (MIA) – We need to be wise and not put barriers to ourselves. It would be irresponsible to reject this proposal in which we have achieved our key demands and hope to be offered another, better one. At the right times we really need wise and statecraft decisions, Deputy PM for European Affairs Bojan Marichikj said after Wednesday’s meeting with Germany’s Special Envoy for the Western Balkans Manuel Sarrazin. We have before us a European proposal for the start of EU negotiations which includes all Macedonian positions and remarks, allowing negotiations to start immediately after its approval. This is a chance for North Macedonia. This is a package that should set the course of our EU negotiations, and a package that is to close a serious dispute we have with Bulgaria. “We have two key interests – to protect our identity and language and join the EU. We believe the new French proposal makes this possible. In the coming days, we have to make a decision, whatever it may be, without too much delay. We believe this is an opportunity that should not be missed. It is worth gathering strength and taking the step which we have been waiting for 17 years. Until now time has been in our favor, but amid a war in Ukraine this is an opportunity that we should seriously consider and I believe that further delays will not be in our interest,” said Marichikj. We could hope for a better proposal, he added, as we did in 2008 when we got the veto on NATO membership with a better proposal with Greece, and 10 years later we resolved that issue in a much less favorable position than the one we had in 2008. “The Government is promoting the proposal to all parties with all its strengths and weaknesses and we believe it is a chance that we should not miss. This is a national task regardless of ethnicity and political affiliation. If we reject this proposal now, we would have to go back to square one in negotiations in the future instead of continuing where we left off,” Marichikj pointed out. Asked why the French proposal and the protocol with Bulgaria have not been passed to the Government yet, Marichikj said the Government is amid consultations and will find a way to wrap them up in the coming days and turn to the Parliament so that the position can be finalized and presented as such to the EU. “The protocol has not yet been fully agreed on or signed. We will also wait for the three documents that we have already published as a package - the negotiation framework, the conclusions and the opening statement of the negotiations together with the bilateral protocol and we will put them up for review. It won't happen today or tomorrow,” said Marichikj. Asked about the intensified diplomatic offensive in the country, the Deputy PM said the state policy is based on friendship and alliance, which is why it was normal for friends and allies to visit the country at this crucial time. “I believe there’s no step that makes more sense than having today a representative of Germany as our ally and biggest partner in the EU. Nothing makes more sense than having yesterday the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, in Skopje. These are North Macedonia’s friends and allies who visit the country in order to assure the public in what we have been saying for several days – that this proposal is really improved compared to the initial one and it meets all our concerns,” Marichikj said. He stressed that in the coming days we have a task to make a decision together through an inclusive social process on whether we’ll put an end to the labyrinth in which we have been stuck for almost two decades and show wisdom by considering and appropriately setting the French proposal that is the “guardian of our national interests and our European future.” “Through constructive talks at the meeting with Sarrazin, on the most current topic opened with the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the unification of the European continent, we both agree that EU membership of the Western Balkan countries is today no longer only an economic and political project, but also a symbol of political security, a security that we all need,” Marichikj said.