Regarding the census in Albania, Defence Minister Slavjanka Petrovska’s stand is that Macedonians in that country absolutely have a right to declare their ethnic affiliation.
“The right to self-determination by every citizen, regardless of which territory they are on, is one of the founding European values,” she said at a press-conference on Monday with her Norwegian counterpart, Bjorn Arild Gram. As Petrovska added, both EU members and countries who want to join the organisation need to respect European values.
According to the Minister, one of the goals of EU integration is to make the country’s passport an EU one, which will prevent citizens from, as she stressed, feeling pressures or being fooled into declaring another ethnic affiliation in exchange for some benefits.