The European Commissioner responsible for European Union enlargement, Marta Kos, said yesterday that she hopes that the incoming government in Bulgaria after Sunday's elections will help the neighboring candidate country open accession negotiations with the European bloc.
"I hope that the new Bulgarian government will help us bring North Macedonia to the start of negotiations," she told members of the European Parliament today on the EU enlargement process, recalling that North Macedonia must amend its constitution to include the Bulgarian community in it, a condition set since July 2022 and imposed by Bulgaria.
Kos did not explain what exactly he expects from Bulgaria, namely from the incoming government of former President Rumen Radev, knowing that it is the parliamentary majority of North Macedonia that is refusing to make the constitutional changes imposed by Bulgaria and embraced by 26 other countries four years ago, reports dtt-net.com.
Radev's stance on the condition on Skopje is the same as previous governments in Sofia.
“The inclusion of Bulgarians in the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia will significantly accelerate the country's path towards the EU, and I hope that our southwestern neighbor will do this as soon as possible in order to open the door to negotiations for full membership,” Radev was quoted as saying during a December 4 meeting in Sofia with the Bulgarian community in North Macedonia, representatives of organizations from the cities of Bitola, Ohrid, Skopje, Prilep, Kavadarci and Kocani, respectively.
"We all hope that the integration of the RMV will happen as soon as possible, but this cannot be at the expense of the rights of the Bulgarian community in the country," a press release from his office said.
In 2022, Bulgaria convinced the 26 other EU member states to condition the opening of membership negotiations with North Macedonia on the inclusion of the Bulgarian community in its Constitution.
The previous government led by SDSM and DUI had agreed to the request, but did not have enough votes, two-thirds, in the 120-seat parliament to make the changes.
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, and his VMRO-DPMNE party, say there will be no changes to the country's constitution to include the Bulgarian community unless the European bloc and Bulgaria officially guarantee that there will be no new conditions for Skopje that could affect Macedonian identity and language, and unless Bulgaria respects the rights of the Macedonian community in Bulgaria.
Most Macedonians fear that Bulgaria will impose new conditions during EU accession talks, as Sofia does not recognize the Macedonian language and treats it as a derivative of the Bulgarian language.
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