Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani said Tuesday that he believes the citizens’ support for the constitutional amendments is growing, and that there is no real concern among them, writes the News Agency MIA.
“The citizens were held hostage to the most inhumane campaign against them. With lies that they would lose their identity, that they would be ‘Bulgarized’. It was very important to launch a complete debate over what the constitutional amendments are. I think that as the debate is coming to an end, the people are more relaxed over the process. You can see there are no reactions. There were no protests during the session of Parliament. If there was real concern, then the people would’ve come out and protested, as they did yesterday. Which means that the entire opposition [to the amendments] have a political background for the next parliamentary elections. Frustrations and dissatisfaction exist, but I think as the debate moves alone and as the processes are being explained, the citizens are more relaxed, and I think that very soon we will reach a point when there will be a broader support [for the amendments],” said Osmani in Tetovo, where the first OSCE Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Conference was held on Tuesday.
In answer to media questions, Osmani stressed that the next parliamentary elections will be regular, adding that this is a closed issue.
“Until the very last day of this parliamentary composition we will continue with the efforts for the constitutional amendments. I think the goal of the opposition is to keep this topic open, to not close it due to the elections, because they want to use it as a main topic in the election campaign – the emotions over the dispute with Bulgaria. Because without this topic, you would have to come out with an election manifesto, with an economic, social, education program,” said Osmani.
Asked if the Bulgarian Foreign Minister’s statement that they would block the U.S. Senate’s draft resolution designating a Macedonian American heritage month is a “goodneighborly act”, Osmani assessed that the Macedonian diplomacy is focusing on its work.
“Our diplomacy is doing its work. We are active in all fields in order to promote Macedonian culture and the bilateral relations with all countries in the world. The resolution in the German Bundestag was a product of one such proactive diplomatic activity. As I said, we’ve been working with several other countries, in order to have a kind of ‘chain reaction’ of countries when it comes to strengthening all those cultural relations as well,” stressed Osmani.
