(ANSA) - BRUSSELS, SEPT. 13 - The September 30 referendum ''is so much more than the agreement'' on the new name of Macedonia (Northern Macedonia), it's a choice ''for our future, for our second independence'', said Macedonia's prime minister Zoran Zaev, speaking at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. For the first time in the history of the former Yugoslav country, a prime minister was invited to give a speech in his mother tongue.

Among the Macedonian population, the prime minister said, there is ''a broad consensus on joining the EU'' and this prospect was ''the key step to make agreements with Greece and Bulgaria''.

Just recalling the recent agreements reached with Athens and Sofia to settle the historic bilateral disputes, Zaev thanked the Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras and Bulgaria's president Bojko Borissov, saying that Skopje wants to be ''role model'' for the Western Balkans and ''prepare the region to its integration in the EU''.

Before the MEPs, the premier spoke several times about the September 8, 1991 referendum, when the Macedonian citizens chose independence from Yugoslavia. Then, said Zaev, ''our people did not want to be isolated, they wanted to be a democratic country'' and today ''they want to be part of the European family''.(ANSA).