Skopje, 27 October 2022 (MIA) — VMRO-DPMNE will not support constitutional changes in Parliament unless the European Union guarantees that the country will become its member without Bulgaria making new demands during the negotiations, according to the party’s leader Hristijan Mickoski. “If they think the VMRO-DPMNE parliamentary group will support these constitutional amendments under these conditions and these circumstances, then I’m publicly saying: It won’t happen,” Mickoski said. Reiterating his party’s position on changing the Constitution so the Bulgarian community is mentioned together with the others already listed there — as required by the bilateral protocol North Macedonia signed with Bulgaria so EU membership talks could start — Mickoski said: “Our position is clear. We will not support constitutional amendments under these conditions.” He said this in response to a reporter asking him to comment on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s saying in Skopje on Wednesday that she expected a majority of MPs to vote for the constitutional changes. Earlier, Mickoski had said VMRO-DPMNE would support the amendments only if it received guarantees from the EU that the country would join the Union without Bulgaria imposing new vetoes during the accession process. Regarding the EU’s assistance for the country announced by the EC President, Mickoski said any help was welcome, especially if it included grants for constructing the railway to Bulgaria and financial support for Corridors 8 and 10a as well as energy projects such the Chebren hydropower plant. Commenting on the significance of Wednesday’s signing of the Frontex Agreement in the Macedonian language, Mickoski said Macedonian had long been recognized by the United Nations and codified according to all linguistic and scientific norms so it was a non-issue. He added that the agreement was just one of hundreds of agreements the country had already signed with international institutions, including the EU, in Macedonian. mr/