1 Back in 2002, at the Eurovision Song Contest, Karolina sang “It depends on us” and about “a little piece of land in the south that could be paradise”. Then came 2008 and the Greek veto on NATO. Then came 2011 and the ruling of the International Court of Justice, with which we defeated Greece, but still didn’t join NATO.

It depended on us when we changed the name in 2018 by changing our Constitution. But then the Americans promised to bring us into NATO and – we did become NATO. But immediately after that, when the time came for things to depend on the EU, we realised that everything actually depends on Bulgaria. Nothing really depends on us.

Therefore, it would be best for the government to stop telling us that our EU membership depends on us. It’s counterproductive. “It depends on us” is just another worn-out phrase on Macedonia’s path to the EU.

In fact, the essence of our unsuccessful European integration lies in the inconsistency of the EU. What good are the Copenhagen criteria, reforms, the judiciary, anti-corruption, human rights, ecology, good governance, fast-tracking laws to meet EU standards, if the main task is – change your Constitution. And when Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski says “now it depends on us”, I don’t think he genuinely believes in what he’s saying. And when the leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, says “we don’t accept a change of the Constitution dictated by Bulgaria”, I don’t think he’s aware that the Bulgarian dictate with last year’s unfortunate

French proposal has become a European dictate.

And when out of everything that needs to be accomplished for “this little piece of land in the south to be a paradise” the main task is “Change your Constitution”, let’s assume we accomplish that task as well. But what lies ahead after we change the Constitution? Will you change Bulgaria? Since, of course, we’re not negotiating with Bulgaria; we’re negotiating with the EU.

Let’s be real…

2 The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bujar Osmani, had a meeting with the U.S. Deputy Ambassador, the EU Ambassador and the Ambassador of the Netherlands and released a statement saying “this time the key is in our hands, and we are especially grateful for the support of our international friends, who provided serious guarantees to support our country in this process”.

What kind of guarantees is Osmani talking about, considering the fact that the Europeans themselves claim they can’t provide guarantees? What are these “serious guarantees”, if the EU doesn’t have the system to offer such guarantees? And I don’t know why Osmani is so determined to help Europeans make amends for Bulgaria’s abuse of their system. He’s so determined to give the other 26 member states of the EU a chance to eat humble pie for having allowed someone in their elite democratic club to find it normal to not recognise someone’s existence and language. Instead of breathing down their necks and saying “Shame on you”, Osmani is determined to make us feel guilty for the EU’s mistakes.

Minister Osmani, how can you say “this time the key is in our hands” when you know Bulgaria still keeps the lock locked from the inside? And Radev doesn’t even bother hiding the fact that even if we manage to unlock this lock, they’ll put another one. And another one. And another one…

3 Here, I’ll say it again, – let’s assume we change our Constitution, what then? When have we not changed it if the EU asked us to? It wouldn’t be a problem if our European integration really depended on us. What rubs us the wrong way is that our EU membership depends on Bulgaria. How is that not clear to our government and the various trios of European ministers who visit us and will probably keep visiting us to convince us to change our Constitution? They drop the phrase “it depends on you” so casually, when in fact they know very well that it’s not up to us. It depends on them. If they are sincere about what they’re saying and they’re not just spinning yarns about the EU enlargement, then they should sort Bulgaria out and make sure it stops destabilising us.

Here, I’ll say it again – let’s assume we change our Constitution. Changing a Constitution is not that difficult. But if the EU and even the USA, which supported the unfortunate French Proposal, allow Bulgaria to make additional demands after the inclusion of Bulgarians in the Preamble, that will lead to a fratricidal war over here in its true sense. Nothing good will come out of the hatred between SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE, fuelled by the pro-Russian Levica getting stronger and by DUI being an arrogant loose cannon which labels you as an Albanophone if you accuse them of stealing. Especially considering the fact that VMRO already sees itself as the winner of the elections and has started making lists. Let’s not forget our Parliament has already been stormed once. They still credit Nikola Gruevski as a politician and measure his ratings through polls. And if Albania starts the accession talks, and we don’t… As if Albania deserved it, and we didn’t… That right there is how much things depend on us. Or on the EU’s Copenhagen Criteria.

Let’s be real…

The Copenhagen Criteria, you say, huh? As interpreted by Sofia. With 16 rulings by the Court in Strasbourg against Bulgaria for not recognising the Macedonian minority, a member state that does as it pleases within the EU.

Flexible criteria are not criteria. Criteria whose flexibility depends on the neighbour of the country to be admitted to the EU – are not criteria. As if Bulgaria truly met all the criteria for entry into the EU when they were admitted in 2007. It’s still not regarded as a normal EU member state. It joined the EU six years before Croatia did, and it still hasn’t been accepted in the Schengen Area or the Eurozone, because it’s a super serious state. As if Cyprus isn’t a divided country with UN troops as peacekeepers, but the whole island is still recognised as an EU member state, and Bosnia and Herzegovina isn’t. As if Hungary and Poland are fervent in their compliance with the Copenhagen Criteria, especially the one on human rights, but Montenegro, which started the negotiations back in 2012, doesn’t comply. It’s a country with just 600,000 inhabitants, with access to the sea, but their political corruption poses a threat to EU values much more seriously than the corruption of Romania and Bulgaria combined. Perhaps only Croatia was harassed as much as we were, although at least they were recognised as Croats who speak Croatian.

In the case of Macedonia, the European Union went off the rails when it comes to the Copenhagen Criteria. EU member states perhaps feel powerful enough to afford stalling the enlargement. Perhaps in addition to the war in Ukraine on the eastern border, Europe can afford instability on NATO’s southern flank as well. However, Macedonia can’t withstand one more deceit from the EU. Macedonia can’t withstand one more veto.

If, even after the inclusion of Bulgarians in our Constitution, the EU and the USA fail to stop Bulgaria from blatantly harassing Macedonia and Macedonians, things will go horribly wrong here.

We are not a factor of instability in the EU or the region. On the contrary, Bulgaria is a factor of instability. And the EU supports that instability.

Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski