Skopje

Prime Minister Kiril Petkov has proposed that parliament resolve all issues on the topic with the Republic of North Macedonia, including whether or not to lift the veto for Skopje's talks with the European Union. This is one of the points that the Prime Minister proposed for a vote at the beginning of today's government session.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Sofia that he strongly supports an agreement to start EU accession talks between the Republic of North Macedonia and Albania.

The Bulgarian veto on the start of negotiations for the membership of North Macedonia in the EU is expected to be the main topic of today's visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Bulgaria.

He arrives in Sofia from Skopje, where he told North Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski this morning that the country is ready to start EU membership talks.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and the European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi gave a press conference after their meeting in the Council of Ministers, at which the EU membership of North Macedonia was discussed.

"We no longer have a place in this coalition," announced the showman and leader of the party "There Is Such a People" Slavi Trifonov in a statement broadcast live on Facebook.

"The Ministers of 'We Continue the Change' are leading the country to bankruptcy", he announced.

"We have clear sanctions for Russian flights. We will not be the ones to illegally let some foreign minister just because he thinks he is right. There is a law, there are rules and our country will follow them.

French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed readiness to bring together in Paris, "when the time comes", representatives of the authorities in Sofia and Skopje to conclude a bilateral agreement that would allow negotiations to begin on the accession of the Republic of North Macedonia (RNM) to the European Union, AFP reported, quoted by BTA.

The United States Department of State has described as "independent" the decision of Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro not to allow Sergey Lavrov's plane through their airspace.

That agreement would enable the opening of negotiations for Skopje's accession to the European Union.
However, as he said, that will happen "when the time comes".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's visit to Serbia, scheduled for June 6th and 7th, has been canceled due to the refusal of Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro to open their airspace to the Russian diplomat's plane, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.