Skopje, 16 June 2022 (MIA) - The war in Ukraine cannot be good for anyone and I would not say it is beneficial for the membership of my country in the European Union, President Stevo Pendarovski told panel “What after the War in Ukraine” within the Prespa Forum Dialogue in Ohrid on Thursday. “Is the war in Ukraine helping the integration process and does it stimulate and facilitate the accession of new candidates? No! One cannot say that any war across the world is positive for any country. I would not say that the war in Ukraine is beneficial for the membership of my country in the EU. The geopolitical aspect of European integration should be considered. If we say there is a connection between the two things then we must acknowledge the structural shortcomings of the European security architecture. If we say that action must be taken due to these shortcomings, then this will not lead to overcoming those deficiencies,” said President Pendarovski. According to him, Russia cannot be seen in the democratic borders of Europe with or without the war in Ukraine and even more so because of the war in Ukraine. “When the war is over, Russia will go back to its old habits. The main question for me is what after the war in Ukraine? EU and US’ response has been unprecedented. Such unity on both sides of the Atlantic was only seen during the 1991 Gulf war. Almost everyone in Europe went back to the old topics of energy and other issues after the Crimea annexation. I wouldn’t want to see this happen this time,” said Pendarovski while adding that Russia saw no consequences after annexing a part of a sovereign country. He said that the incomplete project of European integration has consequences for the countries that wanted to join the Union. “It seems to me that the unfinished project for European integration has consequences for the Western Balkans and countries that want to become candidates in the future. I can see a direct link between the unfinished project of the EU and the security architecture of old Europe. Russia has undermined our societies for years; when it comes to North Macedonia, this includes hybrid threats, fake news especially with regards to the name issue. After the war in Ukraine ends, Russia will go back to the old methods of fighting against western democracy by producing fake news and propaganda, saying we should not chase EU and NATO membership,” noted Pendarovski. The President said the entire Western Balkans is waiting for a completion of the European project, meanwhile facing a demographic disaster, with the area’s population shrinking from 18 to 15-16 million, confirmed by the censuses across the region. “While waiting for a European breakthrough, our population has halved. It is not only North Macedonia that is blocked, Albania is as well, Montenegro has negotiated for years without making tangible progress. We are witnessing the emergence of new ideas about European political communities. I urged my colleagues to explain what does this mean – is it a Europe within Europe, EU within EU, what about the countries already having a candidate status, what about Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova? It was explained to me this is a political consultation forum but this must be properly explained to our citizens,” said Pendarovski. He also referred to the dropping support for EU membership. “Over the past 18 years, public support for EU membership has fallen by 25 percent and the Bulgarian blockade has not helped either. We would like to be told clearly – this is the plan for you, for the EU to say ‘we are truly serious in our intentions to integrate the Western Balkans in an economic, political or other sense.’ Otherwise, more and more people are becoming skeptical about the European project,” said Pendarovski and added that autocratic and dictatorship movements are on the rise in the Western Balkans and Western Europe, which have nothing in common with the EU idea.