SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, on Saturday, Foreign Minister Timco Mucunski held a meetring with Bulgarian counterpart Georg Georgiev.
At the first meeting between the two politicians, the former said that open issues should be resolved responsibly, through dialogue, and with mutual respect and understanding.
Mucunski also raised the issue of respecting the rights and freedoms of members of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria and highlighted the need to enforce European Court of Human Rights rulings.
“At the meeting, there was a discussion on a major number of topics, including bilateral differences, the blockade on the country’s EU path by Bulgaria, as well as the position of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria. Minister Mucunski expressed regret that instead of development of good-neighbourly policy, relations between the two countries remained burdened by bilateral disputes”, North Macedonia’s Foreign Ministry said in the press-release, adding that those disputes had become an unprincipled obstacle on the integration road.
However, Bulgaria’s positions remain unchanged. Through the Foreign Ministry, Sofia said that good-neighbourly relations were a horizontal criterion on the EU path, adding that without that, EU membership was impossible to achieve.
When it comes to building good-neighbourliness, it pointed out that it required confidence, open dialogue, predictability, and meeting of criteria.
“Bulgaria’s position regarding North Macedonia’s European integration is clear and consistent. The 2022 European compromises include a complex of measures whose full implementation is the only way forward”, the institution pointed out.
The constitutional changes are just the first step that will enable Skopje to start EU membership talks, the Ministry also pointed out. Georgiev adamantly stated that there couldn’t be renegotiating or going around agreements that had been reached and that were backed by the entire EU.
