Kochani, 18 April 2024 (MIA) — After 17 years of being an EU candidate country, all of us, this political leadership with your support, opened the negotiations, but we came across two blockades: the external one by neighboring Bulgaria and the internal blockade, the more painful one, by the largest opposition party, President Stevo Pendarovski said at a reelection rally in Kochani.

"They say they do not recognize those agreements and if they come to power they will revoke them. Instead of opening them to see what is written there: that Macedonians exist, that the Macedonian language exists and no one in the world can deny this," Pendarovski said. 

"They tell us we would only enter the EU as Bulgarians, but that is not true. The agreements are available on the Internet, read them. It is a big lie they use to deceive the people so they can come to power without taking into account the citizens' interests. 

"They offer to revoke all agreements, restore divisions and govern the same way as they did before, without solving a single strategic problem. We will not allow them to do this. In a democratic way, through elections," the President said.

Seeking reelection, Pendarovski also held a rally in Vinica earlier on Thursday. Speaking to the locals, he said the opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski a while ago had told the then Bulgarian Prime Minister that he supported the Friendship Treaty. 

"He probably forgets that the internet doesn't forget. He can lie to us, saying he didn't say it. But, clearly speaking Bulgarian, he said, "We will support this agreement." mr/