There’s still time and opportunity for discussion to find common ground on the positions of North Macedonia and Bulgaria, but a decision will have to be made by the EU Council of Ministers, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said on Sunday.
In the next two days, he added, we’ll see how our efforts will be reflected and what the decision will mean for our relations, regional issues and EU’s credibility.
“We’ll make efforts until the General Affairs Council makes a decision. There’s no alternative to our European agenda. I can’t predict the outcome, but it’s becoming clearer that Bulgaria is leaning towards rejecting the negotiating framework. We’ll continue to make efforts and communicate not only with Bulgaria, but with other EU members,” Osmani said.
According to him, North Macedonia and Bulgaria obviously have different positions, which may seem insurmountable, but have nothing to do with the negotiating process.
“These differences have nothing to do with the first intergovernmental conference, bilateral screening, rule of law or environment chapter. The process of negotiations is just a way for the EU to assist the progress of a candidate country, promote rule of law, environmental protection, trade relations. No issue should pose obstacle for a country’s progress in these areas, in line with shared EUropean values” the Foreign Minister said.
Good-neighbourly relations, he added, are an important obligation in the accession process.
“Good-neighbourly relations are part of the treaty we signed. However, the country’s progress, rule of law, opening and closing chapters and the negotiating process should not depend on current difference, which may seem irreconcilable. Time will show how irrational they actually are and how easy we can solve them,” Osmani underlined.
The FM reiterated that stakeholders will continue working on solving issues in the next two days, as well as in the future, because as he said, there’s no alternative to the EU process.
Osmani alongside Austrian Ambassador to North Macedonia Georg Woutsas paid on Sunday a visit to Veleshta to visit the relatives of the man killed in the recent terror attack in Vienna.
