Milanović: Don’t be a victim of extortion for EU membership

Skopje – The state should not endure any extortion in exchange for EU membership. You receive many pieces of advice from your neighbors, from international diplomacy, from the EU, but not all of those pieces of advice are wise or useful for you… You are the ones who will decide what is important for you. Just do not become a victim of any kind of blackmail or extortion when it comes to your EU membership, said Croatian President Zoran Milanović at a joint press conference with President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova in Skopje.

– Here I do not intend to argue, nor do I think of your neighboring country Bulgaria, they have their own ideas about how this should look. The rules are clear, consensus is needed, unanimity is required. As long as someone is against, Macedonia unfortunately cannot progress on that path. The only question is whether this is still the most important thing in this world worth living for you and your citizens, or if there are other things that can define the state as a successful and realized community. But here I have no advice, that is your decision, said Milanović.

The Croatian Prime Minister emphasized that North Macedonia should be helped, but not treated as a special case.

– The country should never be treated as a special case with special needs, as a country with a mistake, but as a country that currently has certain problems, because some others do not agree with certain things that you hold on to. Fine, that cannot be changed by force. European law and pacta sunt servanda, which the professor refers to, is good to repeat, but the EU mainly does not function that way. Croatia is a witness to this, just so we do not live in an illusion, but there are also many good things in the EU, although not all are good, especially in recent years and months, emphasized Milanović.

In response to a journalist’s question about his expectations from the military cooperation agreement that Croatia signed with Albania and Kosovo, and whether this country could also be invited to this military cooperation agreement, Milanović said that it is a declaration signed by three defense ministers.

– The agreement you are talking about is not an agreement, but a declaration or memorandum signed by three ministers. It is a memorandum that was conveniently signed by three defense ministers, two of whom are from NATO member countries – Croatia and Albania and Kosovo, a friendly state to us which unfortunately is still not recognized by all EU and NATO member countries, and is not admitted to the UN. So this is not an agreement, but it is on the trajectory of Croatian foreign policy. I support this agreement and want to calm neighboring countries, let’s say Serbia, so that they have no problems with it, replied Milanović. (May 7, 2025)