Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani He is still on the conclusion that the "ball" is in Bulgaria and according to him, the views regarding the further process between Skopje and Sofia should be consolidated there.

"We have said what we had at all the meetings, we have even formalized it in various documents, so we are not working on anything new from what we have been discussing so far. We expect the Republic of Bulgaria to have a consolidated position of the Government regarding what to do with this process. "Unfortunately, there is communication, but we do not have concrete talks until we hear that consolidated position from Bulgaria," said Minister Osmani, answering a journalist question at today's thematic conference for the Prespa Forum for Dialogue 2022.

The Minister denies that specific proposals and topics are being prepared or considered.

"I think they also know that the process can not be tied so directly, ie to preclude the start of negotiations by finalizing the constitutional changes, I think there is a good proposal on the table that is a compromise between their request to end it before our request. to be before the membership and I think that the proposal on the table is a good solution. "I think that the Republic of Bulgaria is also aware of that, I think it is more a question of not consolidating the position there so that it can be communicated to our Foreign Ministry," Osmani said.

Asked to comment on the statement of Bulgarian President Rumen Radev that "he will not allow Macedonianism to enter the EU", Osmani stressed that there are stakeholders in Bulgaria who are trying to make a mistake in the last weeks of the cycle through provocations and blockades.

"There are stakeholders in Bulgaria, I can not specifically emphasize Radev, who not only want the blockade to continue, but possibly our fault before the world and therefore there are attempts for blockade and provocations, to sit down, to make mistakes in the last weeks of this cycle and if not only us, at least to be equal on the table before the EU as jointly guilty. So far, the situation is black and white. "The Republic of Northern Macedonia does not have any remarks from anyone regarding the approach in this process, everyone says, including the 26 on the table yesterday, that the ball is in Bulgaria," Osmani said.

According to him, it is very important these days and weeks to be careful not to succumb to provocations that aim to be blocked and to be guilty of it.

"Our goal is to unblock, to build correct relations with Bulgaria, so that we will continue constructively in the coming period, and we reject and condemn such provocations," Osmani said.

Commenting on the statement of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, that if Northern Macedonia and Albania do not start negotiations by June 30, the region could enter a crisis, Osmani said that "it is a crisis of credibility."

"All public opinion polls show that the confidence that the EU can stand behind its word falls to the ground, in our country it has fallen to 9 percent. Let us not misunderstand, this is not the support for EU membership, it is high in our country. "But can the Union deliver what it says? The citizens are losing trust, and the strength of the European message is in the trust."

The EU, he says, has transformed the region precisely through the credibility of its message.

"The basic formula for these 20 years has been if you deliver and we will deliver. If the trust in the link between 'you deliver, we deliver' is lost, then the EU's influence in the region weakens, and in geopolitics there is no vacuum, if one weakens the other strengthens. No region is left without influence in geopolitics and that is why Borrell and everyone are upset because in captivity is the most successful EU policy in the last 75 years, and that is the enlargement policy. "That policy has been taken hostage and here it is no longer just our battle for European destiny, but a battle for the EU itself," Osmani said.