Bulgaria reaffirmed its position on North Macedonia’s bid for EU membership

On the day Bulgaria reaffirmed its position on the Republic of North Macedonia to the EU's General Affairs Council, an excerpt from an interview with Kiril Petkov for the Financial Times was published. The interview took place before he took an oath in parliament. In it, Petkov said he would work for a new approach to Skopje with a six-month horizon.

At the last meeting of the Council of the EU for the year, at which a decision is possible to be made regarding enlargement, Bulgaria reaffirmed its position, taken by the Council of Ministers last week. Namely, Skopje is not ready to start EU membership talks.

Earlier in the day, in an excerpt from the interview with the Financial Times, Kiril Petkov did not actually say that Bulgaria would change its position on the start of Skopje's talks with the EU.

The exact quote is:

“We will propose a new process [on North Macedonia], very fast, with a limited timeframe, just six months long,” he said.

Petkov again shares his thesis on the setting up of more working groups to speed up dialogue and find solutions in other important areas such as the economy.

Earlier on December 14, it became clear that Bulgaria, as expected, at the General Affairs Council, reaffirmed its position: Skopje is not ready to start EU membership negotiations, unlike Albania. Bulgaria remains committed to the European perspective of the six countries of the Western Balkans and Turkey.

We reached a consensus and adopted the conclusions on the Enlargement Process. The political discussion today also focuses on the EC's progress report on the RNM, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia-Montenegro. We reaffirmed our commitment to the region, said Gašper Dovžan, foreign minister of Slovenia, currently presiding the Council of the EU.

The conclusions of the meeting also say that the European Council expects the first intergovernmental conference with the Republic of North Macedonia and Albania to take place as soon as possible after the approval of the negotiating framework.

The document also says that good neighbourly relations and regional co-operation remain key elements of the enlargement process. The Council recalls the importance of achieving tangible results and the good faith implementation of bilateral agreements, including the Prespa Agreement with Greece and the Treaty of Good Neighbourly Relations with Bulgaria.

Earlier, the Financial Times published a headline: New Bulgarian PM pledges U-turn on North Macedonia’s EU ambitions
Petkov told the FT the new government would put discussions with North Macedonia on a fresh footing. “We will use working groups . . . to hash out solutions on issues like joint economic activity, infrastructure, culture and history”.

In the Council of Ministers Petkov clarified again the Bulgarian position after a conversation with Zoran Zaev.

I hope that in early January we will have a clear plan for the working groups, including what we talked about this morning, to include culture, infrastructure and the economy, in addition to the history one, and to make an action plan in January, these working groups should have real results, which they should give, with the idea of ​​advancing the negotiations in a more operational plan.

The two discussed domestic political developments in Skopje.

Hours after the publication of the Financial Times, it was reprinted in most media in Skopje. According to experts, the idea of ​​energizing relations in all areas is good, but the blockage on history is complete.

In our work, Bulgarian politics and our Commission have always strived to find common platforms, common crossroads, common formulations and opinions with a desire to change textbooks, because textbooks educate generations, and their textbooks educate them in fierce hatred of Bulgaria. and everything Bulgarian, said Prof. Kiril Topalov, member of the Joint Multidisciplinary Expert Commission on Historical and Educational Issues.

According to experts, Skopje - as a candidate - must meet membership criteria, including good neighbourliness.

I just do not see how our position could change to the extent that we give up the truth of our history, the truth about the current state of the Bulgarians in the RNM, all the actions that are carried out there on de-Bulgarianization, said Prof. Zdravko Popov, diplomat and president of the Institute of Public Policy.

In the Republic of Northern Macedonia, the public and experts expect an answer to one question: does the change of power in Bulgaria mean a change in position.

Two years ago, the National Assembly of Bulgaria adopted a Framework Position outlining the country's red lines, including a change in history textbooks, an end to hate speech and the implementation of the 2017 Friendship Treaty.

In 2021, President Rumen Radev demanded legally binding guarantees for its implementation in the so-called Protocol 5 + 1.

When asked whether he was satisfied with the latest texts presented under Protocol 5 + 1 by Skopje, the former Foreign Minister Svetlan Stoev answered in many ways: he obviously did not comment.

When asked whether he was satisfied with the latest texts presented under Protocol 5 + 1 by Skopje, the outgoing Foreign Minister Svetlan Stoev answered ambiguously: he obviously did not comment on these texts. Bulgaria’s new Foreign Minister Teodora Genchovska also said that at this stage there will be no change in the country’s position.

Чуйте последните новини, където и да сте!
Последвайте ни във Facebook и Instagram
Следете и канала на БНТ в YouTube
Вече може да ни гледате и в TikTok
Намерете ни в Google News