Bulgaria warns North Macedonia of straying further from EU path

2 months ago 24

The new government of North Macedonia is moving further away from starting EU membership negotiations, said Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry, referring in particular to the recent “unacceptable” positions stated by the new prime minister.

To start EU membership talks, North Macedonia is required to include the Bulgarian minority in its constitution – a condition imposed by the European Union following a request from Bulgaria.

“Renegotiation of international commitments already made would only lead to a further move away from the start of the EU membership negotiations of the Republic of North Macedonia,” reads a Bulgarian position paper published on Monday.

“As a result of unnecessary provocations and confrontation with neighbouring countries, North Macedonia has already lost too much time in the process of opening accession negotiations”, the paper adds.

North Macedonia’s new prime minister, Christian Mitkoski, leader of the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE, came under particular fire, with the Bulgarian caretaker government’s prime minister Dimitar Glavchev, a former MP from the election-winning GERB party, calling his recent comments “unacceptable”.

“The stated intention of the new government of North Macedonia to reject the legitimate demand of some of its own citizens to guarantee rights and freedoms on an equal footing with all other communities in North Macedonia, including by including them in the constitution of the neighbouring country, is unacceptable,” the Bulgarian authorities said.

The government in Sofia also said that “North Macedonia’s stated intention not to abide by its international commitments and signed agreements is unacceptable”.

After being sworn in as North Macedonia’s Prime Minister, Mitkoski said that as long as he was in office, “the Bulgarian dictate” would not be accepted.

“The Bulgarian dictate will not pass as long as I am prime minister. This should be clear to you”, Mitkoski told the opposition in Skopje.

(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)