The French proposal passes Thursday for approval in the Macedonian Assembly

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will address the deputies with a speech.

The Macedonian government, at the request of the deputies, on Tuesday afternoon submitted to the Assembly all the documentation related to France’s proposal for the framework of the negotiations for the membership of North Macedonia with the European Union.

The government released the three documents from the negotiation framework, but not the bilateral protocol between North Macedonia and Bulgaria, which is demanded by the opposition.

The protocol, as it is known, will be signed in Sofia after the approval of the proposal in the Assembly of North Macedonia.

Diplomatic sources for Radio Free Europe say that if the French proposal is accepted, the first intergovernmental conference between Macedonia and the EU can be held at the beginning of next week, and immediately after that the EU will start negotiations with Albania.

However, the opening of the chapters will only begin after North Macedonia amends the Constitution to include Bulgarians in the preamble, as envisaged by the dispute resolution proposal.

In order to secure a two-thirds majority for the amendment of the Constitution, the support of some VMRO-DPMNE deputies is also needed, but the leader of this opposition party, Hristijan Mickoski, said that he will not support the amendment of the Constitution.

The opposition accuses the Government that the acceptance of the proposal will “Bulgarianize” the Macedonians, but the Government has assured the opinion that the language and identity are not endangered with the proposal, which it sees as the only possibility for unlocking European integration.

North Macedonia gained the status of a candidate state in 2005, but negotiations have never started, initially due to the dispute with Greece over the name issue, which was resolved with the agreement between the two countries on June 12, 2018.

However, the dispute with Bulgaria has left open the start of negotiations since Sofia vetoed it in November of the year, conditioning its removal on the resolution of the dispute over language, identity and historical aspects with North Macedonia.

What does the French proposal contain?

The French proposal consists of seven points. The part that has provoked the most debate is the issue of language and historical past, which is part of the Good Neighbor Agreement with Bulgaria and as such, this agreement is also included in the French proposal.

In the third point, it is emphasized that, “On North Macedonia’s path towards membership in the European Union, the Council recalls the importance of achieving tangible results and implementing bilateral agreements in good faith, including the Prespa Agreement with Greece and the Neighborhood Treaty (agreement) good with Bulgaria”.

In the French proposal, the Macedonian language is defined as such, that is, the Macedonian language without additional explanations or footnotes, while it is apostrophized that the EU will consider the statements of the two states, North Macedonia and Bulgaria, in relation to the language.

In the fourth point of the French proposal, in addition to the obligation to carry out reforms, it is emphasized that, “The Council in this regard welcomes the intention of North Macedonia to initiate and achieve as a matter of priority the constitutional changes, with the aim of including in the Constitution the citizens who live within the borders of the state and who are part of other people, like the Bulgarians”.

Through the French proposal, the aim is to overcome the differences that North Macedonia has with Bulgaria and to unlock the beginning of negotiations for membership in the European family.

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