How can we explain to the Macedonian citizens that their accession to the European Union – the home of various identities – will cost them their freedom to say who and what they are, that is, that it will cost them their identity? This was the question asked by Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski at the Security Conference in Munich, Germany, this weekend. Gruevski called on the EU member states to abide by their principles of respect for the different identities.

Speaking at the panel discussion titled “Regional instabilities – Trans-Caucasus and the Balkans”, Gruevski expressed hope that Greece, as Macedonia’s neighbor, would help the country enter NATO and the EU.