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The Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, stated on Saturday that the modified French proposal for the settlement of the dispute between Skopje and Sofia closes the issue of Macedonian identity and language, which, according to him, are accepted as such by the European Union .
“Bulgaria can maintain its position on the Macedonian language, but this will not be acceptable to the EU in the context of the negotiations. Propagandists say this is a dead end, we will bulgarize, but we are here to dismantle such narrative “, Osmani stated, clarifying the French proposal for which consultations are taking place in North Macedonia with all the factors in the country.
Osmani has said that the proposal can only be passed by the decision of the government without the need for a vote by the Parliament, as the Prime Minister, Dimitar Kovacevski, had previously stated.
For the head of Macedonian diplomacy, Bujar Osmani, the “biggest difference” between the new and the old French proposal is that “the Macedonian language remains protected in the EU and the previous proposals such as “the language of North Macedonia”, “the language according Constitution” and the footnote with an asterisk that “the Macedonian language is unacceptable for Bulgaria, have been rejected”.
He said that Macedonian is recognized by the EU and with the accession process, it will become one of the official languages of the EU”, reports Radio Free Europe.
Bulgaria has continuously insisted that the Macedonian language is a dialect of the Bulgarian language, as well as its identity, which according to Sofia has “Bulgarian roots”.
This has caused Bulgaria, as a member state of the EU, in November 2020 to use the veto to block the start of negotiations for the accession of North Macedonia to the EU.
Bulgaria, with the first proposal of France, has also insisted on the inclusion of the Bulgarian minority in the constitution of North Macedonia before the membership talks start, but with the modification of the proposal, according to Minister Osmani, this will happen before the opening of the first chapter of talks.
“The proposal that was earlier envisaged that constitutional changes would first be approved, then the negotiations would begin. Now there is the beginning of negotiations, the first intergovernmental conference, the opening of negotiations, the full screening process and before the opening of the first chapter, we must make constitutional changes”Osmani emphasized.
The leaders of the institutions said that the new proposal does not include historical issues that are also an open dispute between Skopje and Sofia.
The Macedonian opposition has assessed the proposal as “harmful to Macedonian national and state interests.
According to VMRO DPMNE, the new proposal does not differ from the first proposal, as far as issues related to language, identity and historical past are concerned.
This party considers that the changes are “cosmetic” or that there is a “change in terminology that does not change the meaning of the first proposal”.
The Macedonian language and our identity are not recognized by the Bulgarian side. They are of Bulgarian origin. For all historical personalities, we will say that they are Bulgarian”, said VMRO DPMN.
The opposition has announced a protest in front of the government of North Macedonia for Saturday evening.
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