SDSM leader Venko Filipche addressed parliament on "The geopolitical dimension of EU enlargement and its implications for the Western Balkans" with the message that Macedonia should use the current window for European integration. "If we don't board this train, the doors may stay closed to us for decades ahead," he said.

Filipche's argument is that the EU currently has enlargement high on its agenda because of geopolitical shifts triggered by the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. In plain terms - Brussels strategically wants to close the vacuum in the Western Balkans before Moscow, or someone else, fills it. That's a realistic reading, not a party slogan.

He called on Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski for joint work on constitutional changes - specifically the inclusion of Bulgarians in the Constitution, a precondition for opening EU negotiations. "We will share the responsibility," was the formula on offer. That's a politically significant move - an opposition leader offering cooperation to the prime minister on a topic where any failure will fall first on whoever pushes it through.

Filipche pointed to the examples of Croatia and Bulgaria, where all parties worked together during their EU negotiations. It's a practical model showing that, for a country stepping onto the integration path, opposition and government must act as a unit - not as enemies on the same pitch.

He reminded the chamber that European Council President Antonio Costa will visit Macedonia in roughly two weeks. That's a moment when the international diplomatic agenda is specifically asking for a solution to our internal blockages. The open question is whether Mickoski will accept Filipche's invitation, or whether party logic - "why help the opposition look like statesmen?" - will once again shut the window before it opens.