Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev has said that he personally talked to his Austrian counterpart regarding North Macedonia’s EU path, adding that he received personal assurances that there would be no change to Vienna’s stand on the negotiating framework for Skopje.
“I cannot answer the question as to whether the RNM is seeking support from Austria to go around the French proposal. They’re most likely seeking such support. However, whether they will find it is another question. Our role in this case is to ensure the EU continues to adhere to the European consensus”, he points out, stressing that the statements being spread by North Macedonia to its benefit is a separate topic.
When it comes to Rapporteur Thomas Waitz, Bulgarian Vice President Iliana Iotova believes that he should be replaced, while the country’s President, Rumen Radev, has said that Sofia’s stands are clear and that Bulgaria must constantly pay attention when it came to continued lobbying of North Macedonia within all European institutions.
In North Macedonia, PM Hristijan Mickoski, at a conference of VMRO-DPMNE’s Union of Youth Forces, said that despite the delay when it came to the vote on MEP and Rapporteur Waitz’s draft report, there was no running away, that is, it would be adopted because the whole of Europe and Brussels were aware of the centuries-long distinct Macedonian identity language and would support it, “of the Macedonian language, which is a fact”.