SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
If no solution is found to Sofia’s announcement to block Macedonia’s accession talks, the EU will lose the credibility of its enlargement policy, which would be tragic for the Union, Macedonia and Bulgaria, said Gerald Knaus of the European Stability Initiative, and one of the most influential lobbyists for EU enlargement. According to Knaus, the request by Sofia and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva for Skopje to recognize that the Macedonian people and the Macedonian language have Bulgarian roots is absurd. Knaus assesses that it is not normal to include different views on identities in the EU accession negotiating framework and if Bulgaria insists, it simply means that there are no accession talks, neither now nor ever, so he suggests that the solution would be for Bulgaria and Macedonia to agree that they differ in their views on history.
