The President of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, has called “unnecessary” and “outdated” the reactions regarding the meeting in Tirana of Prime Minister Edi Rama with the leaders of the Albanian political parties of North Macedonia.

Regarding this meeting, in which, according to the participants, issues related to the acceleration of the European integration of both countries were discussed, there were many reactions in Skopje, in particular from the Macedonian opposition, which assessed the invitation of the Albanian Prime Minister as an “attempt to save the government of Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski”, but also as “harmful to the Macedonian state and national interests”.

However, President Pendarovski, in a statement to the media, said that “the time has passed when political processes, events or meetings that took place in Tirana, were assessed as a threat to our security.

“Decades ago, the then Socialist Republic of Albania was a security threat to us. It has been a long time since the political processes or events or meetings that took place in Tirana were seen as a security threat for us. Let’s not forget, the Republic of Albania is a member of NATO and has started negotiations with the EU together with us. Albania is our friend and I have no doubt about any secret intentions of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. I know very well, and so do you. I don’t think that any anti-Macedonian scenario is being plotted there”, stated Pendarovski.

Regarding the comments that the Albanian leaders were called to Tirana to agree on the constitutional changes, Pendarovski said that for this matter there was no need to go to the meeting, since as he said, all the political leaders who were in Tirana also previously they said that they would support the amendment of the Constitution for the inclusion of the Bulgarians in the Preamble, as a necessary condition in order not to repeat the Bulgarian veto to the European integration process of North Macedonia.

The meeting that the leaders of the parties from the Albanian bloc had with the Prime Minister of Albania was positively evaluated by Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski who said on Wednesday that “every meeting with the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is welcome” because according to Prime Minister Kovacevski, “Edi Rama is a true friend of North Macedonia and a Euro-Atlantist”.

The meeting held on Tuesday in Tirana was initiated by the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, and was attended by the leaders of all the Albanian parties from North Macedonia, except for the head of the Besa movement, Bilal Kasami, who, although invited, refused to take part with the reasoning that he did not want to sit at a table with the head of DUI, Ali Ahmeti. Kasami had evaluated the meeting as “an attempt to save Ahmeti after the divisions in his party”.

But, after the meeting, the leaders of the Albanian parties assessed that the meeting was relaxing and in a “fraternal spirit” and that the common European future of Albania and North Macedonia was in focus. (REL)

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