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© Georgi Kozhukharov
Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Bulgaria and Macedonia Ekaterina Zaharieva and Buyar Osmani.
Two countries have blocked the wording requested by Bulgaria in an EU Council document on the occasion of the North Macedonia accession negotiations. This follows from a statement by the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in which they are not named, but according to the Macedonian news agency MIA, it is about the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The document in question is, in fact, “conclusions of the Council of the EU on the Stabilization and Association Process”: they were unofficially approved at a meeting of the ambassadors of the member states yesterday, and at the insistence of Bulgaria a sentence was added “on the importance of the treaties of the Republic”. North Macedonia with Bulgaria and Greece, and that its implementation will put an end to all claims based on a misinterpretation of history. “
Today, however, during the EU Environment Council, the conclusions were “unexpectedly blocked” “without explanation,” the ministry said.
According to MIA sources in Brussels, it was the introduction of the “misinterpretation of history” wording that sparked opposition from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The ministry statement also said:
“The veto on the Council’s conclusions runs the risk of undermining the credibility of the EU and preventing the EU from sending much-needed signals to the Western Balkans to stimulate the necessary reforms that countries wishing to join must undertake.
As one of the Member States that supports enlargement, Bulgaria wishes to encourage the Council to take a constructive approach in the current situation to allow the adoption of conclusions during the current Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The conclusions of the EU Council on Enlargement have nothing to do with the approval process of the negotiating frameworks with the Republic of Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia. Bulgaria supports the negotiating framework for Albania and welcomes the additional time provided to improve the framework for the Republic of North Macedonia. “
