US Senator Chris Murphy in Skopje, promotes constitutional changes

2023-05-26 18:09:18, Kosova & Bota CNA

American Senator Chris Murphy was visiting Skopje, where he sent a clear message that North Macedonia must make constitutional changes to remain on the path of European integration. He pointed out that if the country decides otherwise, to avoid the path of integration, then it would be disturbing and have unwanted impacts.

North Macedonia must implement constitutional changes by October to include the Bulgarian minority, a condition from the European Union for the continuation of talks with the Balkan country.

American Senator Chris Murhpy was in Skopje at a time when clashes are increasing between the Macedonian government and the opposition regarding constitutional changes, a condition for the country's integration into the European Union.

This is the second meeting of the senator in less than three weeks with Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski, who visited Washington at the beginning of the month. The authorities in Skopje see the American senator's strong commitment to his attitude towards the region as well as towards the stability, economic development and well-being of North Macedonia.

Mr. Murhpy, a member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, has talked with the Macedonian authorities about reforms in the field of the rule of law, about the fight against corruption and obviously related to the urgent need for changes to the constitution for the inclusion of the Bulgarian minority in it, which represents the main condition for the continuation of the negotiations of this Balkan country with the European Union.

" I want to be clear about the impact on relations with the US if North Macedonia takes a different path; decide against the constitutional changes and get out of the way towards the European Union. It will be worrying for a NATO member country, which we have pledged to protect on the basis of common values, while it may turn its back on the EU", said the American Senator .

Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski said that there is a difficult path where bold decisions must be made, "but along this path, he added, we have strong support from the USA and their high representatives".

"The decision we have to take does not belong to just one person, one government or just one political party, but it is a decision of all political actors within the state. We must definitely provide our citizens with a living within a member state of the European Union" , said the Macedonian Prime Minister, who emphasized the need to increase the standard of living of the citizens of North Macedonia to the level when the country was part of the Yugoslav Federation, when it was, as he said, on the standard of some of the states of Eastern Europe such as: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, countries that became members of the Bloc.

Meanwhile, Sentaroti Murphy said that with the progress towards European integration, in addition to increasing security, there will also be economic well-being; more American companies will come to invest here, he said.

He also spoke about a strong alliance between the USA and North Macedonia, while emphasizing the role of the latter in relation to the policies towards the Russian Federation after the brutal aggression against Ukraine.

Skopje was the last stop of Senator Murphy, who together with Senator Gary Peters stayed in several countries of the Western Balkans./ voa