Dr. Bujar Osmani:

I thank the Chair. I thank all the members of the committee on European Union Affairs for this opportunity. It is my great pleasure and honour to be able to address your esteemed committee.

Many things and similarities connect North Macedonia and Ireland. I will start with one of them. It is an honour for me to mention the renowned Mother Teresa who was born in Skobje in 1910. She felt strongly the call of God and at the age of 18 left her family and home and joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India. After a few months’ training in Dublin she was sent to India where, in 1931, she took her initial vows as a nun. This is a deep spiritual bond that ties us together as small countries. Furthermore, our countries have for a long time faced predicaments in our own histories. What we strive for nowadays is to add another positive and reassuring resemblance, to repeat Ireland’s successful European story in North Macedonia and to become a successful and thriving society as Ireland is today.

The most important example refers to what we are faced with today in our EU accession path, which is at a critical juncture, to make it or break it once again. We concluded the Prespa Agreement with Greece in 2018, then changed our constitutional name in 2019 and after many struggles, opened the accession negotiations. Since last July we are again faced with a similar bilateral challenge, namely, to open the constitution once more and insert the members of the Bulgarian community in the preamble to the constitution. Being a successful multi-ethnic country with the most progressive system of protection and promotion of cultural rights, this condition would not have been controversial. However, our bumpy EU accession road that started with the association agreement, signed in 2001, with many unfulfilled promises that followed, has made our citizens tired, disappointed and frustrated with support for joining the EU dropping from 90% to a historical low of 60%.

What connects us once again as countries is one similar critical juncture of yours that took place some 50 years ago. After it passed, its implications seemed analogous to the implications these constitutional changes might have for North Macedonia. To many members, it probably rang a bell already. I am referring to Ireland’s referendum in 1972 when most of the country’s population supported European Union membership but still had to make a difficult compromise on freezing certain parts of the constitution. The referendum was successful and today Ireland is one of the most pro-EU countries. The reason for this EU zeal lies within the abundant benefits Ireland has enjoyed throughout the years, thanks to the EU.

The investment from the Structural and Cohesion Funds, European Social Fund or profits from the EU agricultural policy, the EU Research and Innovation Funds and trade, were all incremental economic gains since Ireland’s succession to the Union. My hope is that we will have the same political courage. In November, screening of the initial phase of the accession negotiations ends. We will then be able to implement the constitutional amendments and move towards the real productive work of opening our key clusters and chapters. North Macedonia has established itself as an avant-garde and confident role model in south-east Europe. We are 100% aligned with the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy. On rule of law, we perform and score better even among already negotiating countries. We are a responsible and reliable NATO partner. We contribute to the EU’s and NATO’s support to Ukraine, including militarily with weapons, and we share with responsibility and caring the most difficult circumstances of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE.

That is why I can openly say in front of this committee that North Macedonia has proven its EU credentials with its own smart and visionary peaceful policies in the past 30 years within its borders, towards its neighbours and internationally. It has built a vibrant multi-ethnic democracy, cultural dialogue in peaceful bilateral dispute solving, good neighbourliness and regional co-operation strongly abiding by international order based on values and norms. What more European behaviour and contribution could be asked from a prospective candidate for membership at these difficult geopolitical times for the whole Continent? Seeking and achieving compromise on any given issue is what lies at the core of the Union since its formation. North Macedonia has never made shortcuts around meeting EU criteria and will continue along this path. That is why it should be given the chance to catch up and converge with the EU’s core. That is why, as I often say lately to our European friends, we should inject the utmost credibility in the process and do more integration before membership. Who knows, we might also finalise this process here in Dublin where, in 2004, the application for our EU membership was handed over? I thank the committee members for their attention.