There are no negotiations for Macedonia, and besides that for Albania?

Macedonia Albania EU Western Balkans
The flags of Northern Macedonia, Albania and the EU / Photo: EPA-EFE / GEORGI LICOVSKI

The meeting of the Ministers of European Affairs yesterday took place in a tense atmosphere, ie, as reported by MIA, Bulgaria refused to give in, despite the efforts of other countries, Macedonia to start negotiations, of which Germany was the loudest.

Bulgaria has not lifted its veto on Macedonia's EU membership negotiating framework. Our country, despite meeting all the conditions and since March last year has had the green light for negotiations from all member states, yesterday for the second time was blocked by the eastern neighbor at the decisive session of the EU General Affairs Council in Luxembourg. This decision was expected and announced by the Bulgarian side, but also by the Macedonian state leadership, given the intransigence of Sofia for the demands to Skopje, which refer to the origin of the Macedonian people and the Macedonian language. Until the closing of this issue of the newspaper, the Government did not receive an answer as to their position on the repeated Bulgarian blockade and what is the strategy for the future. 

 

"EU is shooting itself in the foot"

 

The meeting of the Ministers of European Affairs yesterday took place in a tense atmosphere, ie, as reported by MIA, Bulgaria refused to give in, despite the efforts of other countries, Macedonia to start negotiations, of which Germany was the loudest. The ministers had EU enlargement on the agenda and debated the adoption of the negotiating framework of Macedonia and Albania.

According to diplomatic sources for MIA, the debate was quite intense, the criticism of Sofia "was numerous". Berlin warned that with such behavior, the EU was turning into a "strategic dwarf", and other member states warned that with this blockade "the EU is shooting itself in the foot". Sofia was again told that the credibility of the entire European Union was at stake.

The Bulgarian representative said that "the EU does not understand the depth of the problem" between Skopje and Sofia, that this dispute is a European issue and that Bulgaria is in a "specific situation" due to the upcoming elections in July.

- However, Bulgaria can not give any guarantee that it will unblock the veto with a political government - European diplomats told MIA.

With the blockade from Bulgaria to Macedonia, Albania automatically remained blocked, for which this time no country was against it starting negotiations, but some countries oppose Skopje and Tirana to separate and negotiate separately for EU membership.

Until the closing of the newspaper, it remained uncertain whether conclusions on the EU enlargement process would be adopted or whether the ministerial debate remained purely informative.

Ahead of the meeting, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), citing its own sources, said that no change in Bulgaria's position regarding its veto on Macedonia's EU accession talks was expected.

- Our country remains in the position that there is no progress in the former Yugoslav Republic in implementing the Good Neighborly Agreement as a whole - announced BNR.

 

Bulgaria demands, no one gives

 

According to analysts, the blockade from Bulgaria is not a surprise, as Sofia has not deviated from the position for months that Skopje does not respect the Good Neighbor Agreement. Professor Nano Ruzin says a way out of the problem should be sought in the proposal that the Portuguese presidency of the EU delivered to Sofia and Skopje last month.

- The EU should stick to the Portuguese proposal and seek a way out of it. The proposal offers excellent opportunities for overcoming the dispute, which it presents as a bilateral problem whose solution can not be a condition for conducting and the course of Macedonia's EU membership negotiations. The second key point to be clarified is that the name Northern Macedonia is a geographical, not a geopolitical term. - says Ruzin for "Free Press".

He added that the veto issue remains a criterion that guarantees the equality of EU member states. In the Union, he says, decisions are made by a simple or two-thirds majority, and there are cases where a veto is allowed, with EU history recognizing more vetoes given by member states to candidate countries.

The Government did not comment on the developments yesterday morning. After the first veto they put last year in December, with the explanation that Macedonia does not respect the Good Neighbor Agreement of 2017 at all, Minister of European Integration Nikola Dimitrov accused Sofia of violating the Agreement, which stipulates that Bulgaria will not hinder Macedonia's membership in international organizations. The then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ekaterina Zaharieva, responded that they had not committed themselves not to set conditions.

Following the Portuguese proposal to overcome the blockade Bulgarian President Rumen Radev stated that Bulgaria seeks legal guarantees from Macedonia that will bring "permanent solutions", ie expect Macedonia to propose a roadmap for exit from the dispute, which they will check whether it is in accordance with the declaration of the Bulgarian Parliament from 2019. With this declaration, which was unanimously adopted in the Bulgarian Parliament, Bulgaria denies the Macedonian identity, language and history, and similar content, in the form of an explanatory memorandum for its position, was sent to the EU last year and thus announced its blockades on Macedonia. .

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