Commenting on Bulgarian PM Rosen Zhelyazkov’s decision to ask European Council President Antonio Costa to convey to North Macedonia’s politicians that Sofia will not demand anything from Skopje beyond what is contained in the Negotiating Framework, Protocol, and Treaty on Good-Neighbourliness, European Affairs Minister Orhan Murtezani said at a press-conference at around 10 am on Monday that Sofia and Brussels interpreted what Skopje’s obligations on the EU path were differently.
The biggest problem, he added, is that Bulgaria’s unilateral interpretation of all those documents is being presented as an EU position.
“When we hear senior representatives from Brussels, they tell us to make the constitutional changes. When we hear Bulgaria’s representatives, they say it’s about the constitutional changes, Negotiating Framework, Protocols”, Murtezani stressed.
In his view, though North Macedonia is not afraid of new requirements, it shouldn’t be about bilateral demands.
Regarding the Reform Agenda and Growth Plan, asked by a journalist why some ministries hadn’t met the deadline to adopt laws provided for in the Agenda, he stated that one should wait until the end of the day to see whether something would be changed and be amended by institutions as a fulfilled step.
“What was the previous time a weakness, that is, all instructions to finalise the steps arrived literally after the deadline for reform implementation. Now, there is a picture that’s a little clearer, but the clearer picture means an additionally more complex process. What can be seen from now is that the percentage of implementation of reforms in June will be a little lower than what it was in December”, he explained.