The big issues and dilemmas from the early 90s when we gained independence, today are no longer on the agenda. Our biggest national project, creating our own, independent state has been completed, as well as membership in almost all international organizations important to us, membership in the North Atlantic Alliance as the crown of our decades-long efforts to provide a guarantee for territorial integrity. We can continue the narrative about historic losers, divided nation, a nation historically suffering injustices, embargoes and sanctions, about the Lisbon Declaration, about the conditions for us to become members of the United Nations, with a condition set that realistically had never been set to anyone before, but all this belongs to history, stated President Stevo Pendarovski in his address at the scientific event “Contemporary Macedonian State – two stages in its process of formation and development:: 1941-1991/1991-2021”, which is organized by the Macedonian Academy of Science and Arts, and under its auspices.
– We created a country and we will not lose it, but it is not that it does not matter at all what country we live in, that is, whether our children and grandchildren will want to live in such a country. Let me illustrate – there are territories in the world that are called states, where the government only by force keeps the population from leaving their homeland and dozens of others, where there is such hopelessness that forces younger generations to plan their future anywhere in the world, just not at home. If we want to say after 30 or 50 years that we have a country with all aims, we need to find a solution to the current problems, and not for 1903, 1941 or 1991. Only in this way will we survive in the new world that is being born before our eyes, outlined Pendarovski.
According to him, our main challenges today are mostly structurally different, but are not less serious and significant than those of the 90s. He classified them into three groups – the old challenges that will be relevant for us even after 50 years, having in consideration the internal structure of our society, in the second are ones still new for us and for the world, old problems that have been dealt with for decades, and in the last one he set new phenomena and threats both for us and for the world, although, he says, here as well, unfortunately, the world is moving forward much faster than us.
– In these thirty years, we have all had the opportunity to testify that the survival and prosperity of the independent Macedonian state, to a large extent, depend on the internal inclusion of all ethnic communities. In that part, realistically a huge step forward has been made with the Framework Agreement that contrary to expectations, did not disintegrate the country, on the contrary, it drastically reduced the potential of extreme structures that want new borders on the Balkans. 20 years later, in my opinion, the time has come for a change of paradigms in regards to the principle of inclusion, along two lines that are not written in the Ohrid Agreement – the first, ethnicity should not be the only condition for employment, the second, the smaller one, non-majority communities to receive far better treatment than before, under the condition that we want to build a multinational, and not a binational democracy, says the head of the state.
The external integration, on the other hand, he stressed, is a key precondition for the survival of small states in the global world. In that part, we have noticed visible progress with the Prespa Agreement without endangering the vital identity markers of the Macedonian nation that are explicitly stated in the text of the document.
– One of the solid foundations of the Prespa Agreement is, actually, the only element that was acceptable for both parties, in continuity, from 1993 until today, regardless of who was in power in Skopje and Athens, and that being that the term Macedonia would be used on a non-exclusive basis. The agreement with Bulgaria from 2017 is an example of harmonization achieved without foreign assistance, an act that does not discriminate any of the parties that even in post-communism, unfortunately, did not overcome mutual stereotypes about each other. I do not expect negative effects neither in the phase of its full implementation, because it is known that in that sense there is no room for manoeuvre for us: namely, if we lose the nation, we do not need European integration, said Pendarovski, also pointing to the recently adopted parliamentary declaration, which he says, confirms the broad political consensus on that issue.
– It is clear that at this stage of our political development, civil reconciliation is impossible, but all of us, current political actors, are obliged with a modest personal example to contribute to the de-escalation of tensions that at times paralyze the whole country. We need a new, broad national and state consensus for development, which will be supported by relevant political entities in continuity, regardless of whether they are in power or in opposition. Without that, we will only mark every next anniversary of independence, without having what to celebrate, said Pendarovski.
Translation: N. Cvetkovska
