Pendarovski: I don’t intend to pardon Zaev if he committed crimes


Фото: Б.Грданоски
North Macedonia’s head of state Stevo Pendarovski, in an interview with Radio Free Europe, says that he is committed to reconciliation, a long process involving many political and social stakeholders.

On VMRO-DPMNE’s remarks that the head of state perceives reconciliation as amnesty for Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and his associates, Pendarovski says he does not intend to pardon Zaev or anyone else in his party or the Government if crimes are committed.

Regarding his recent statement that revolutionary Goce Delchev had declared himself as Bulgarian, but fought for independent Macedonia, the President says it has strengthened the country’s negotiating position.

“The Macedonian public should know that the commission comprised of historians from both countries entered an impasse. When reaching the period of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Bulgarian side insisted, probably politically motivated, that everything that had occurred in that period is inscribed as part of the Bulgarian history, while all revolutionaries and events to be defined exclusively as Bulgarian. Following series of consultations with our academicians and Macedonian members of the commission, I decided that our team needed wind in its back, a political framework for future discussions,” says President Pendarovski.

Otherwise, he adds, we would have been blocked by Sofia on our EU path by the end of the year.

“The last meeting of the commission in Skopje was not productive, a next one is scheduled in September. Meanwhile, members have intensive communication, circulating materials on both sides towards finding a common ground on these issues. The primary objective of this commission is to discuss individuals, but not all, discuss events, but not all, over the course of these two centuries of shared history, so that it is not entirely Bulgarian, because, first and foremost, this is not a historic fact,” notes Pendarovski.

Regarding the date for EU accession negotiations, the President says there is no Union member claiming that North Macedonia should not start negotiations by the end of the year.

“I was assured during my recent visits to Brussels and Berlin that the delay is purely from technical reasons and there is no political background, as speculated by domestic and part of international media,” says President Pendarovski.