Bulgaria is open to active, open and meaningful dialogue with the Republic of North Macedonia, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Svetlan Stoev told a press conference on Friday after meeting with Portuguese Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Augusto Santos Silva and EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi in Sofia.
Stoev said he expects neighbours in the region to work in the spirit of sincerity and constructiveness, pointing out that there’s complete continuity in Bulgaria’s position regarding North Macedonia , and that the maintaining of goodneighbourly relations and the implementation of the 2017 Friendship Treaty remain of key significance for Bulgaria, MIA’s Sofia correspondent reports.
“Bulgaria remains consistent in its support for the Western Balkan countries’ European integration, provided that the criteria for each candidate country’s individual accomplishments are observed together with the fundamental values of the [European] community, including the principle of goodneighbourliness,” Stoev said.
He voiced readiness to meet with Macedonian counterpart Bujar Osmani, in order to discuss initiatives that the current Bulgarian caretaker government can undertake.
“The maintaining of goodneighbourly relations and receiving the necessary guarantees about the implementation of the 2017 Friendship Treaty remain of key significance for us. We continue to make efforts to restore trust in our relations with the Republic of North Macedonia. We continue to make efforts to restore trust in our relations with the Republic of North Macedonia. Our goal is to take concrete steps to restore the dialogue with Skopje, including at the highest level, which will provide a basis for the future regular government to bring our relations to a level that should connect two close countries,” said Stoev.
He said he hoped Bulgaria and North Macedonia would work together to find a sustainable and lasting solution to the outstanding issues in mutual relations.
Portuguese Foreign Minister Silva stressed that meeting with Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, President, and Foreign Minister was important to the European Commission.
Silva thanked for the warm welcome in Sofia and for Bulgaria’s commitment to the EU enlargement process, a topic that is also important to the Portuguese EU Presidency.
He pointed out that there are currently two enlargement processes – the start of the intergovernmental conferences for Montenegro, as well as for Albania and North Macedonia.
“Now was the time to have direct consultations with Bulgaria in Sofia. They will be of great importance for the ongoing process,” Silva added.
EU Commissioner Várhelyi said there’s quite a lot of work ahead, and it’s very important to listen to Bulgaria, as the country is a leading member state when it comes to the design of the EU policy towards the Western Balkans.
“We are here to design together with Bulgaria how we can design the next steps. We are at a crucial juncture, to see how we can move forward jointly,” Várhelyi added.
