With the Agreement with Greece, Macedonia is consolidating on the world stage as a state. No one will split or divide us, on the contrary, Macedonia is becoming a full member of NATO and is beginning negotiations with the EU, Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov said in an interview with “Television 24”.
The Foreign Minister will answer questions from citizens regarding the agreement with Greece and the upcoming referendum concerning the name of the country, when he will appear on TV show “Ask the Minister” once a week from next Thursday. Using live footage of social media, they will collect questions for a few days and then once a week, on Thursday, he will respond to them.
Dimitrov said that he still does not know how much the organization of the referendum would cost, in his opinion, it is more important to explain to the public the basic elements and benefits of the signed agreement with Greece. He called on people to read the Agreement which is available on the Government’s website.
He considers the explanation his duty because he is a signatory to the Treaty, and considers his support as a national and generational obligation in strengthening the state and its identity.
“It is my duty to do everything I can to explain to the people, because we face a historical crossroads, and the decision is ours. Because the stake is so huge, in front of everyone there is a very responsible decision to be made – where do we want Macedonia to in the future”, stressed Dimitrov, he went on to say that it will be difficult for the country to survive and develop if it is not in the EU and NATO alliances.
He repeated that by accepting the Agreement, the name of the state would be the Republic of Northern Macedonia, for which the Constitution should be open to change, whether citizenship will be Macedonian or a citizen of Northern Macedonia, the anthem remains unchanged, the language remains Macedonian.
“Ethnically, as a people – we are Macedonian, Macedonians speaking Macedonian. The fear in our country was from a geographical heading to the name Macedonia – would it not change us? The fact that we succeeded explicitly in making the other party accept – our right to self-determination – will mean that in the EU the Macedonian language can be Macedonian, we can be Macedonians. We put a full stop to the dilemmas and the challenges whether we were accepted or disputed. I think there are many misconceptions and grey areas that require a lot of explanations to clear up”, Dimitrov said.
