• Wednesday, 25 December 2024

Unilateral declaration is Foreign Ministry's political statement, says Osmani

Unilateral declaration is Foreign Ministry's political statement, says Osmani
Skopje, 26 July 2022 (MIA) - The unilateral statement about the language is a political statement of the Foreign Ministry, which means it doesn't constitute a historical statement in which historians should tell the historical truth. It is a political statement which includes the three key elements - time and space continuum, the inability for negotiating or signing agreements with the EU in a different way and that it is an official language across the whole territory and in international affairs, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said Tuesday. Speaking to reporters after a joint news conference in Skopje with Portuguese Foreign Minister João Cravinho, Osmani said they managed to incorporate all the three elements in the unilateral statement after it had been proposed by the German to the French EU presidency that it should be noted that it is an official language codified in 1945. "From our Constitution enshrining that it is an official language across the country and in international affairs, from the Parliament Resolution as regards the continuity and the conclusions adopted in Parliament that we will never accept to sign any agreement with the EU that doesn't contain a clear Macedonian language, in fact, that we will never accept to become member of the EU unless Macedonian is official language. It means that these three things, we secured the most essential element to be part of the unilateral statement," said the Minister. He stressed that it is a political statement that gives no historical context of the language. Osmani mentioned that Bulgaria's unilateral statement is no precedent. "It had been already sent to the UN back in 2018. The same statement is now sent to EU member states," he said adding that the unilateral statement to the UN had no implications to the Macedonian language. Asked who authored the declaration, Osmani said that people who are experts in the field had been consulted.