For the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani It can be said that he is a veteran in the negotiations with Bulgaria, so in the guest appearance at the Morning Briefing he summarized his impressions from the meetings with the Bulgarian representatives in Skopje and Sofia and talked about the further course of the negotiations between the two countries.

- Trust was really broken in these processes, and these are such issues related to emotions and therefore the approach of these two new political governments was to create a platform, structure, skeleton of frequent meetings, intensified communication, specific products that first will restore personal communication and trust between the actors in the process but also trust between citizens and states and already on that platform, that platform to address issues that are obviously sensitive and painful and difficult. Considering that in such an environment we will be able to understand each other more easily and thus easier to overcome more frequent meetings and to build trust on that platform and easier to overcome the problems between the two countries, said Minister Osmani in Utrinski. briefing.

In Bulgaria, on the other hand, some opposition parties are trying to create obstacles.

- At the time of the visit, we had GERB and DPS, and we met with the coalition partners in Petkov's government. We also met with President Radev who is an important actor in the whole process. Unfortunately, we can not have much influence on how those relations work there. We can communicate, we can follow that dynamic, we can set ourselves up properly, but I have a feeling that Prime Minister Petkov is trying to make this process inclusive, to include everyone who will be able to decide in this process tomorrow, and that gives me hope that this is a more serious and essential approach and that is why I want to invest in this process, said Osmani.

To the question what will happen to the whole process if in March when the census data comes out and it turns out that there are very few Bulgarians in Northern Macedonia, Osmani answered:

- The working group on political issues had two meetings. Political issues have also started to be addressed intensively and we have a calendar of activities, meetings, etc. to complete what we started in 2017. This shift in narrative is important. There were political parties and individuals who imposed theses such as "one people, two states", imposing as absolute truth in a narrative that I would formulate as - the right to self-determination in accordance with the constitutional order of the countries. And every word in this formulation is important. It comes down to the right to self-determination, something in which we are the strongest, what is our field, in what we are the best. I think this shift in narrative is underestimated. Only a year ago, a former defense minister did not accept the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria because he considered it contrary to Bulgarian state interests. This is now an important process in that identity rounding and I think that this shift in attitudes should be used, said Osmani, adding that the Bulgarian community in Northern Macedonia, regardless of "how many there are, no matter how small a community, a small group, if it is felt "neglected in this process of graduation, the state should get its rights."

- This is a benefit of the Framework Agreement. We are not aware of what we have achieved. Expanding that framework and those instruments for protection and integration with another community, different from the majority, it will make the state stronger, the citizens calmer, and the bilateral relations between the two countries better, said Osmani.

Regarding the constant complaints of the Bulgarians from Macedonia in the local media and before the politicians, Osmani said that he plans to meet with the representative Petar Kolev from the Civic-Democratic Union. Radev receives the Macedonian Bulgarians, and now Pendarovski will talk to representatives of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria.

- Both sides are to blame for that. Our citizens should communicate with Skopje. We need de-escalation of relations, not escalation. The prejudices with the Framework Agreement were similar and it is a normal process of facing something new. People have the same torments no matter what community they are from. Ethnic energy is the reality, it is not lost, it is just transformed from one species to another like the energy in physics. It is such a rule If you do not channel it institutionally, you will be channeled para-institutionally. The address of all their questions should be Skopje, and not Sofia or any other capital. That is why there are mechanisms in this country and here we are talking about further formalization of that process. Bulgaria will use the instruments during the negotiations for minority rights such as the Copenhagen criteria in the fundamental process in the negotiation framework. It is better for us to open it than for it to be imposed on us, Osmani is decisive.

Watch the whole interview in the video: