Two rival resolutions – one from the opposition Social Democrats and another promised by Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski – have reignited political battles over North Macedonia’s stalled EU accession, with constitutional changes and identity issues once again at the center of debate.
The opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), led by Venko Filipce, called for a national consensus on a resolution setting out “red lines” – ruling out negotiations on the country’s language, identity, history and culture. The draft resolution includes a timeline for parliament to adopt constitutional amendments by Feb. 10, 2026, describing the inclusion of Bulgarians in the constitution as the final obstacle to EU membership.
“These are our red lines. With consensus, no one will be able to stop us,” Filipce said, insisting that outstanding issues with Bulgaria should be resolved bilaterally, without further conditions at the European level.
Mickoski vows his own “real” resolution
Prime Minister Mickoski rejected the SDSM initiative as a document full of “falsifications” and said his government would introduce its own “real Macedonian resolution” after elections. He argued that national interests could not be protected with a text that, in his words, misrepresented the history of the Macedonian language and the accession process.
“We will use this resolution as a basis, but the real Macedonian resolution will be the one we draft, one that defends national interests,” Mickoski said.
President warns at the UN
President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova told the 80th UN General Assembly that North Macedonia’s EU path was being blocked for “subjective, nationalist reasons” rather than by the Copenhagen criteria. She warned that conditioning membership talks on new constitutional changes risked reopening historical and identity disputes.
“The constitution is a domestic matter. Neither a neighbor nor the EU can be a proposer of amendments,” she said, adding that frozen EU integration posed broader security risks for the region.
Sofia holds firm stance
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev said Sofia would not accept any moves by Skopje aimed at “circumventing or undermining” the EU consensus. At a meeting of the B4 group (Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Croatia), he reiterated that respect for minority rights and good-neighborly relations remained essential conditions for enlargement.
Political implications and risks
Analysts warn that the rivalry between government and opposition over who defines the “real” resolution risks delaying the constitutional agenda and deepening divisions in public opinion.
“If parliament fails to adopt the constitutional amendments by February 2026, the risk is that the European Commission and member states will freeze the process, leaving North Macedonia in the waiting room with no date for opening a new chapter,” an EU diplomat in Skopje told Reuters.
With the deadline already in place, another year could be lost to political maneuvering rather than concrete progress towards EU integration. While Brussels insists on the legal closure of bilateral disputes, Macedonia’s political scene continues to turn identity issues into the centerpiece of pre-election rhetoric – creating the impression that the road to the Union depends more on domestic consensus than on European criteria.