The Bulgarians may enter North Macecdonia’s Constitution with the Egyptians and 4 other Nations

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.

The text, as reported in the working group that prepared the constitutional changes, has already been submitted to the Ministry of Justice and it contains, in addition to the Bulgarians, five more "sections of peoples" to be added in an attempt to quell discontent with the new concession (as perceived by many citizens) of Macedonian sovereignty.

However, even this does not guarantee that North Macedonia will change its constitution: public opinion is overwhelmingly "against" and the opposition VMRO-DPMNE rules out any support, especially before the elections - in the summer of 2024 at the latest or interim. Changes to the constitution require two-thirds of the votes of the deputies (80 out of 120), and the government does not even have 65. Skopje is currently under intense pressure from the West, including the United States and the Netherlands, whose ambassador has angrily called on the country to fulfill its commitments.

Part of the delay before they reach parliament is due to technical procedures, including to translate the text into Albanian; then they must be approved at a government meeting.

"The Bulgarian dictate"

In an attempt to calm the tension caused by the topic in North Macedonia, Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Jews and Egyptians are added together with the Bulgarians (Egyptians - this is how a part of the Roma define themselves, despite divergent comments on the topic among Macedonian historians).

The deadline for these changes is November, when the screening carried out by the European...