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European Union Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Oliver Varhelyi said in Sofia on Thursday that the bloc was “very frustrated” by the failure to find a solution between Sofia and Skopje to unblock the European integration process in northern Macedonia.
After meeting with Bulgarian Prime Minister Kirill Petkov, Commissioner Varhelyi said he was in Bulgaria for the fourth time in six months to seek a solution to the dispute so that the European Union enlargement process could continue.
He said that the EU still believes that a solution can be found in June and that it expects the support of Bulgaria.
Bulgaria, as an EU member state, used its veto in November 2020 to block the start of talks on Northern Macedonia’s membership in the European Union.
“There is still no solution, which is very frustrating for us, because we can not continue with the membership process. I am still waiting for support from Bulgaria and we are working on all these talks I have here in Sofia, as well as regularly in Skopje, to finally clarify and strengthen the European perspective for the Republic of Northern Macedonia. “The European Council summit in June is important and we want to see an agreement reached,” Varhelyi was quoted as saying by the Bulgarian news agency BGNES.
Bulgaria initially challenged the Macedonian language and identity, urging Skopje to acknowledge “Bulgarian roots” in their past. But now her main demand is for the rights of the Bulgarian minority, demanding their inclusion in the Constitution of Northern Macedonia.
The Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Kiril Petkov, stated on Thursday in Sofia that he considers the information that he wants to lift the veto on Northern Macedonia for the start of negotiations for membership in the European Union to be false.
Commenting on the statement of the resigned Minister of Foreign Affairs, Teodora Gencovska, that the Prime Minister “is aiming to lift the veto on Northern Macedonia by bypassing the government partners and the conclusions of the Bulgarian Parliament”, Petkov said he would never take unilateral decisions and that the requirements that Skopje must meet to lift the veto are clear.
Slavi Trifunov’s “There is such a people” party has left the government, thus pushing for early parliamentary elections, although Prime Minister Petkov believes he will run a minority government.
“I want to make it clear that Bulgaria has three clear demands for progress on the issue of the Republic of Northern Macedonia – respect for the framework position adopted by the Bulgarian Parliament, inclusion of Bulgarians in the Constitution of Northern Macedonia to protect their rights. , as well as the implementation of the Good Neighbor Agreement. “These are very clear issues,” said Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, following a meeting in Sofia with EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi.
Authorities in northern Macedonia say that despite developments in Bulgaria, they remain committed to finding an acceptable solution with Sofia.
The break-up of the governing coalition in Sofia comes two days after the visit of the now-resigned Foreign Minister Teodora Genchovska to Skopje and the optimism of the Foreign Minister of Northern Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, that the two countries are well on their way to overcoming differences and lifting the Bulgarian veto.
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