Dimitrovski: ‘What We are Afraid of’ is Accession Process will Become Strictly Bilateral

At the EU Meets the Balkans Forum in Sofia, North Macedonia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Zoran Dimitrovski, said on Thursday that though his country had no problems when it came to making the constitutional changes to include Bulgarians in the Constitution, there was fear the accession process would depend on the results of the Commission on Historical and Educational Issues.

“What we are afraid of is that our process of accession to the European Union will become strictly bilateral and will depend on the results of the work of the Commission on History and Education”, he underlined.

At the same event, Bulgarian Vice-President Iliana Iotova commented on the Slovenian-German initiative to change the vote process within the EU.

“Sometimes, things are done even more emotionally in terms of ‘let’s now close our eyes if some criterion isn’t met’. Therefore, I don’t accept the thesis for enlargement matters to be accepted by qualified majority”, she noted.

The same day, also in the Bulgarian capital, where she met Iotova herself, Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev, and PM Rosen Zhelyazkov, Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said enlargement with the Western Balkans remained a priority.

Though he expressed support for the stand, the Bulgarian PM underlined the importance of the principles of individual approach and achieved progress. Without mentioning North Macedonia, the Commissioner said an ability was needed to make hard compromises.