SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
In an interview with Sitel on Saturday, ex-President Stevo Pendarovski said he was concerned by the new cabinet’s positioning regarding US President Donald Trump’s administration, especially in the context of relations with the EU.
PM Hristijan Mickoski’s stand that “the new normal will flood the world”, according to Pendarovski, is a dangerous thesis that may result in North Macedonia becoming internationally isolated.
As a small country, the ex-President believes, North Macedonia mustn’t position itself shoulder to shoulder with Trump against the EU, especially because even the great world powers are carefully measuring how to position themselves towards the new US administration.
“The new normal has flooded neither America nor the American political scene. There, there is a clearly positioned opposition. It has flooded neither Europe nor Mexico nor Canada either. America has only two solid allies, Great Britain and Israel, while even Britain is not fully on Trump’s side. We’re a small country and it’s unlike us to rush first in positioning ourselves to Trump”, he added.
According to him, considering the G7 hasn’t positioned itself immediately on Trump’s side either, then, North Macedonia, as a small player internationally, should be especially careful.
For the first time in history, Pendarovski believes, the two main geopolitical powers, the US and EU, are on opposite sides, while North Macedonia mustn’t take a side because though the big players will find a compromise, the small ones will be collateral damage.
“We’re a member of NATO, but we want to be a member of the EU, too. If we support policies in contradiction with European ones, that may harm our European integration process. We mustn’t be a cosponsor of resolutions on the same side with North Korea and Belarus. That’s amateurism”, Pendarovski underlined.
The ex-President also said personal relations didn’t play a role in global politics. In that regard, he mentioned Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic and Albania’s Edi Rama, saying that despite the close contacts with the US President, they were not rushing in terms of support.
He also criticised the strategy to get closer to Budapest and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban.
“What do we have in common with Hungary for us to be in the same region? Why shouldn’t we be with other countries in the region? Why exclusively with Hungary? Viktor Orban is the last autocrat in Europe. A country like ours, which is still building democracy, should get connected to his policies”, Pendarovski underlined.
Regarding the EU path and Bulgaria, Pendarovski’s stand is that Skopje doesn’t have something to offer to the Trump administration in order to succeed in terms of pressure being exerted on Sofia.
“Trump’s a transactional President. You get as much you pay. We don’t have resources to trade in such diplomatic games, whereas Bulgaria has a much better geostrategic position”, the ex-President noted.
In that regard, he said Orban had never supported the issue of a delayed effect of the constitutional changes even though the Mickoski-led cabinet was pushing the thesis. North Macedonia, the ex-President considers, must wisely employ its foreign policy, especially in a period of geopolitical tensions between the US and EU.
