Filipche: Gligorov framed Europe as a national goal since the 1990s

Venko Filipche used a party event marking 35 years of independence to praise the role of the country’s first president, Kiro Gligorov, and to press for renewed focus on European integration as Macedonia’s strategic objective.

At the SDSM-organised gathering titled "Macedonia Is All We Have" Filipche premiered a new documentary, Gligorov from Macedonia, by filmmakers Nikola T. Kalajdziski and Aristid Filaktov and recalled Gligorov’s early, consistent orientation toward Europe.

Filipche: Gligorov set the European course already in the 1990s

Filipche argued that Gligorov described Europe as the natural political, economic, geographic and civilisational environment for the country and kept repeating that commitment as a kind of political legacy. He said that Gligorov also warned that membership would demand work, knowledge, learning and reforms.

Reflecting on the democratic transition, Filipche asked what Macedonians had done with the peaceful independence won 35 years ago and noted that Gligorov’s historical contribution was not always fully recognised at home. He said: "What have we done with the state we gained 35 years ago by peaceful means, without victims and without destruction, for which our president Kiro Gligorov has historical merits. For a long time Kiro Gligorov was a man whose merits part of Macedonia did not wish to recognise, and history increasingly recognises them. We do not defend President Gligorov today. His merits are so great that he, even deceased, defends himself with his deeds."

Filipche also outlined Gligorov’s approach to foreign policy. "His famed policy of equidistance toward the neighbours was often misinterpreted as keeping everyone at an equal distance. But the meaning of equidistance was different. It meant equally good relations with all neighbours. That is the wisdom of a small country located in a sensitive region. Neither quarrels with neighbours. Nor seeking patrons. Nor producing enemies for domestic political use. Decent and friendly relations with everyone. Dignity before all. Dependence on none," he said.

Turning to the present, Filipche stressed that even if politicians consider the international reality unfair they must deliver solutions rather than tolerate stagnation. He said: "We may consider that Europe toward Macedonia is unjust. And indeed it is, many times it has been. But the responsibility of politicians is to find solutions, not to consider it a success to stand still for decades. The state is not led by sick vanity, by false patriotism, by beating one's chest. It is led by results and sacrifices by taking unpopular decisions, but historically justified. Only future impartial generations can rightly assess the price of accepted compromises, and the loss from uncompromisingness and the lost decades of faster multidimensional development."

Filipche concluded by calling European integration the country’s greatest state interest and warned against rhetoric that substitutes for policy. "European integrations do not belong to SDSM. They do not belong to VMRO‑DPMNE. They do not belong to any president, prime minister or minister. It is the greatest state interest. It is not enough to emphasise it rhetorically while doing nothing to reach the goal," he said, urging concrete decisions and work.

Photo: СДСМ