North Macedonia Denies ‘Downplaying’ Bulgaria’s Conditions on EU Talks

The government in North Macedonia has rejected opposition accusations that has downplayed the tough preconditions that Bulgaria has set on the expected launch of EU membership talks and on the gradual solving of open issues.

The EU General Affairs Council unanimously decided to start accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania on March 24. The EU Council of Ministers unanimously confirmed this on Sunday April 26.

However, the Council of Ministers also included in its summary a separate statement submitted by the Bulgarian delegation which, among other things, insisted on scrapping references to the Macedonian language and to the existence of an ethnic Macedonian minority in Bulgaria.

The conditions reflect Bulgaria's historic view that Macedonian is not a distinct language from Bulgarian, or Macedonians from Bulgarians.

North Macedonia's Foreign Affairs Ministry condemned the Bulgarian statement. "The statement, submitted in the summary after the adoption of the conclusions [endorsing the start of accession talks], is a strictly one-sided interpretative statement, which cannot exclude or change the legal effect of the decision for the start of negotiations, nor the meaning and the scope of the conclusions," it said.

Authorities in Skopje denied hiding the document from the public, noting that it is already publicly available, adding that they hope that, during the talks, Bulgaria and North Macedonia will be able to settle their open issues through "active cooperation and good will".

Skopje and some EU officials have meanwhile said they expect the negotiating framework with the EU to be finished during May, allowing formal talks to start possibly in June.

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