Mickoski defends Macron, and Macron opposes his “defender” – the very same day

In the interview that VMRO-DPMNE’s leader Hristijan Mickoski gave to the Croatian newspaper “Vecernji List” there are many controversial moments. What is unusual is that in his effort to defend the French president on his “no” to launching a negotiation process for the country’s entry into the Union, attempting to play the card of special sources of knowledge on the subject, Mickovski was challenged by Macron himself

Author: Ljubomir Kostovski

In an interview with the Croatian daily newspaper “Vecernji List”, the country’s top opposition leader has been very untruthful about Macedonia-EU negotiations, trying to defend French President Macron. Mickovski said that the French president was not the only one who denied the date, namely that the resistance to North Macedonia’s request to get the promised negotiations starting date allegedly had broader consensus in Brussels.

SPIN:

Asked by a journalist why Macron blocked accession talks, the VMRO-DPMNE leader said:

I have to correct you first: I believe that this was not a one-sided decision by President Macron, together with him are a few member states who had arguments about the decision they made … I am talking about many influential countries that have hardly made impulsive and unjustified decisions.

[Source: Вечерњи Лист, date: 7 November 2019]

COUNTER-SPIN:

It is true that this thesis of the president of VMRO-DPMNE did not find fruitful soil in all those who follow this topic. The situation during the decision-making process regarding the request of North Macedonia, i.e. its non-formalization, was clear.

Macron himself wanted to deny Mickovski in an interview he gave for the British magazine ”The Economist”. The interview was also translated and republished by the editorial ”Deutsche Welle” in Macedonian.

It was published on 7 November, the same day that Mickovski’s interview entitled “Macron: Everyone in the EU was in talks with N. Macedonia, but not with Albania” was published. The subheading reads “French President Macron in an interview with The Economist says he is ready to agree to start negotiations with Skopje if the procedure is reformed in the upcoming months and the country continues with reforms.”

The beginning of the article reads: “French President Emmanuel Macron accuses the other EU member states of hiding behind the French veto of the start of negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania at the Brussels summit, and in essence, green light consent was only for Skopje. That, in his view, would have been a fatal mistake. In an interview with the British magazine The Economist on 21 October this year, published today, Macron says he will consent to negotiations with the two countries, but only if reforms of the negotiating procedure are made in the upcoming months, and if Skopje and Tirana complete some given reforms. But he will not consent to further EU enlargement.”

From the above quote, the attitude of Macron sheds light on several points:

• the veto was only French (!);
• in essence, the green light was for Skopje only, admitting that if North Macedonia’s request could be set apart from the Albanian, he would have voted “yes”;
• he is ready to agree to start negotiations with Skopje if the procedure is reformed in the upcoming months and if the country continues with the reforms;

This also denies Mickovski’s stance in the aforementioned interview that he does not believe Macron would accept the country’s nomination. Following the case, French President Macron personally denied the spin of VMRO-DPMNE President Hristjan Mickovski.

This is, of course, the most direct and clear denial of the theses by which Mickovski will in the future seek to be Macron’s “lawyer” in this pre-election period by visibly spinning the realities of relations between Skopje and the EU, i.e. North Macedonia and France.

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