Copyright skopjediem
On Wednesday, during a speech in Tetovo, DUI leader Ali Ahmeti sent a message to PM Hristijan Mickoski, that is, a warning over EU integration. If North Macedonia doesn’t proceed on the EU path, citizens of the country will have no other choice than some going with Albania and others with Bulgaria, he was quoted as saying by TetovaSot. The DUI leader also described Mickoski as a very belated patriot. “Today, patriotism is not measured in words, but rather in contribution to bringing communities closer, advancing the values getting us closer to the EU, not to getting stuck in the past”, he stressed. The following day, however, Mickoski stated that that much attention shouldn’t be paid to the DUI leader or his statements. “Because not only will that not happen, but, also, we shouldn’t allow these politicians that belong to the past century and the past draw attention. We, as VMRO-DPMNE, and I, as PM, will simply ignore these statements because they don’t deserve any comment”, he stressed. On the other hand, Socialist Party of Macedonia (SPM) fiercely criticised the DUI leader, saying his statement contained a narrative of divisions and creation of ethnic tensions. Pavle Trajanov’s Democratic Union even called on prosecutors to launch proceedings against Ahmeti concerning a call to endanger the country’s territorial integrity. However, DUI stated there had been a scandalous and stirring misuse and distortion of Ahmeti’s theses. “DUI most fiercely reacts to the tendentious headlines and interpretations that have appeared in part of media, with claims about an alleged division of the country”, it noted, stressing that its leader had said in his statement that the goal was for the country to become a part of the EU, without mentioning a division at all.
