On Wednesday 29 August the foreign affairs minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Nikola Dimitrov, seemed confident in front of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee as to a positive result on the referendum on the name of his country, which is to be held on 30 September.
"We will win this referendum. We always take good decisions when we are asked the most difficult questions", he said, adding that "the question is too big to fail". "It's a historic process", he said. "The referendum does not focus on the choice of left or right but on the future of the country, of building more friendship in a region that really needs this sense of friendship", he added, although a call to boycott the referendum has been launched.
Dimitrov stated that this referendum is not binding and that the agreement mentioned the possibility of an agreement, and not an obligation. "The reason for a referendum is to promote a political debate in the country. It is part of the agenda of all political parties", he said, stating that it would be very difficult to oppose the agreement if the referendum favoured it. The agreement requires a change in the Macedonian constitution with a two-thirds majority of parliamentarians.
The MEPs in the foreign affairs committee gave their support to the referendum, hoping the result would be positive.
The effective implementation of the agreement on the name would also enable progress on the EU accession path. "We need this accession process", Dimitrov stated. He said that due to a lack of perspective for accession, his country had fallen into a political crisis from which is has now recovered. "We succeeded in becoming more mature (...) We need to be rewarded and to have a European future", he said, without asking for special privilege. "We are not asking for any favours. We do not want a politicised process. We want our political courage to be recognised and our vision for the future", he said, adding that countries should be assessed on their achievement, taking account of the Copenhagen criteria.
Dimitrov nevertheless warned the EU, saying that if it ignored the Western Balkans region it "would cost a fortune" from an economic and security point of view. He said there is no other way than EU accession for sustainable peace, democracy and prosperity in the Western Balkans. "We must put all our energy into the accession process (...) We often say that the Balkans are on the outskirts of Europe, although they are an island at the heart of Europe", he said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)