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The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, declared today that he is not disappointed with Bulgaria’s decision to block the start of negotiations for the republic’s accession to the European Union. He added that his country expects the support of its neighbor at a General Affairs Council meeting in December, TASS reported.
“I am not disappointed. We lost this opportunity to approve the negotiating framework, but we also have a second chance, namely the General Affairs Council of the EU on December 8,” Osmani told reporters. “There is still the possibility of holding an intergovernmental conference in December. Tomorrow (today) we will continue negotiations with Bulgaria,” he added.
The number one diplomat of the Republic of North Macedonia also pointed out that Bulgaria will realize the damage that it can inflict on itself and its country (in case of blocking the start of negotiations with the EU again – TASS note), and also the enlargement process and the image of the EU. In this regard, the Minister trusts the willingness of the Bulgarian partners to correct the error in the near future.
In April this year, the EU decided to negotiate with Skopje and Tirana.
We feel today (yesterday) that it is not the right time to start EU accession talks between the Republic of North Macedonia and Albania, said German Minister Michael Roth on behalf of the German presidency of the EU Council. Unfortunately, not much progress has been made in defining the negotiating framework, and they are a precondition for convening an intergovernmental conference to start negotiations, he added.
Roth clarified that Albania has fulfilled the requirements to start negotiations, but there are still open questions between Bulgaria and the PCM. We wanted to help and clear the way, as far as possible, for the start of the negotiations. If there are controversies that cannot be resolved in the coming weeks, this is not the time to put the issue on the European Council’s agenda.
Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva noted that the preliminary draft negotiating framework with the Republic of North Macedonia does not reflect Bulgaria’s demands and cannot be endorsed in its current form.
