Macedonia naming dispute

Political statements originating from Skopje regarding the potential integration of Macedonians into the Bulgarian constitution have ignited a diplomatic dispute between Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called on North Macedonia to finish the changes to its constitution.

She gave a joint briefing with Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski in Skopje, where she is visiting as part of her tour of the Western Balkans.

SKOPJE - The government of North Macedonia said on Thursday North Macedonian citizens who remained stranded in Israel would evacuated on an Air Serbia flight on Friday.

In a statement, the government said it would cover all expenses of the Tel Aviv-Skopje flight.

The Republic of North Macedonia celebrates its Independence Day today.

"We have entered the decisive phase for the changes in the constitution of the Republic of North Macedonia. We all want the Bulgarians to be included in the basic law. And let this be final. But for this to happen, the parliament in Skopje must achieve a majority", said the special envoy of the German federal government for the Western Balkans, Manuel Sarrazin.

"Immediate measures have been taken in connection with the case of the attacked and beaten co-chairman of the association of Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia Bekir Kadrieski in the town of Struga" - this is what Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel commented:

The Macedonian Ministry of Justice must send to the parliament the proposal for adding the Bulgarians in the constitution, a condition for the start of the negotiations on joining the European Union.

Former prime minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev refers to the benefits of the Prespes agreement for his country, Greece, and the wider Balkan region, in an interview with Kathimerini.

In connection with the statement of the Prime Minister of North Macedonia before the Council of Europe, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria emphasizes that it is unacceptable that the statement of concern for the fundamental rights of a given community is used as a pretext for unfounded and caustic attacks on a member state of The European Union.

As North Macedonia gears up for an important constitutional change, to include Bulgarians in the preamble as a constitutive people and so avoid repeated Bulgarian EU blockades, it has condemned a Bulgarian request to be "included" in the process as "scandalous".