(ANSA) - SKOPJE, 16 FEB - Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski has criticized the double standards he says exist in the European Union when it comes to defending human rights and peoples' identity. "When Russia attacks and denies Ukrainian identity, we all make our voices heard, criticize and fight for the rights of the Ukrainian people and against such unprecedented aggression. But when the parliament of a member state of the European Union attacks and denies Macedonian dentity and my mother tongue, Macedonian, then everybody shut up," Mickoski said speaking today at a panel on the Balkans at the Munich Security Conference. The reference to Bulgaria, with which North Macedonia has been engaged in a historical, identity and language dispute for years, was clear. Although accession negotiations between Skopje and the EU formally opened more than two years ago, talks have never really begun because of the blockade implemented by Sofia, which demands official recognition of the Bulgarian minority in North Macedonia and its inclusion in the Macedonian constitution. This point finds resistance from Skopje's current nationalist leadership, both Mickoski's government and President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, both of whom hold strongly conservative positions. Noting how Skopje's path to the EU began long before Albania and even Croatia, Mickoski said that for Northern Macedoania the meritocratic system is just a fairy tale. "We are victims of bilateralization and our path to the EU is very complex," said the premier, for whom "instead of bringing Europe to the Balkans, we brought the Balkans to Europe. Unfortunately, there are EU member countries in the Balkan region that have brought bilateral disputes to Brussels, instead of bringing Brussels values to the Balkans." Mickoski then referred to the speech at the conference by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, who attacked European democracies, accusing Europe of straying from its basic democratic principles. "I hear comments that Vance's speech was a serious interference in internal affairs. But aren't name changes, flag changes, currency changes interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country? How much longer will we have to suffer double standards? We are not talking about a merit-based process here, we are talking about bilateral disputes that should have nothing to do with European values," the Macedonian premier noted. (ANSA).