The historical commission is important, but we can not talk about history and only history, and through the success of that historical commission to assess whether someone deserves to join the EU. Hence, I welcome the new approach Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov “History should not be the only channel of communication between Skopje and Sofia, and I expect that as soon as possible, whether this or next month, we will enter into a practical concrete realization of that plan,” he said tonight. President Stevo Pendarovski in an interview for “Top Topic” on Telma TV.
– Petkov has two components, one is the time limit, which did not surprise me, and the second is about the content and I welcomed that, because the first sentence that the new Bulgarian Prime Minister said is that we must not talk to Northern Macedonia only through that so-called historical channel and advocated the formation of working groups. I think that is a great approach, because if a person comes who says we will not only talk about the ethnicity of Tsar Samoil and Goce Delchev, but we will also talk about many things that affect our citizens, energy, infrastructure, education, health, investment …, In my opinion, this is a far more modern approach than what we saw until recently with the previous government. I do not say, and Petkov does not say that they will not protect the Bulgarian national interests, he says it several times. But let us talk in several fields about the real criteria according to which negotiations are started and the EU is entering, Pendarovski said.
Regarding the six-month deadline that Petkov set for resolving the issue with Skopje, Pendarovski says that according to him it is too long a deadline.
– That deadline is too long in my opinion because these talks we had with Bulgaria since 2017 when the bilateral agreement was signed, until today, and especially this year and a half, and not only in the historical commission and beyond, we had only two joint sessions of the two governments in which the agreement reached was evaluated. So, we came up with ideas, and to see them flush it out, it’s really fun. The problem was that Bulgaria imposed the approach only if the historians in the Commission say “okay”, then we can start negotiations, Pendarovski said.
Therefore, the President continued, I support that those controversies can be cleared up in a few weeks and those working groups can continue to work after we start negotiations, but reiterated that we should not be exhausted by what happened in 1901 or 1903.
Regarding the demands of Bulgaria “five plus one”, he says that our answers and views have been sent for those “five plus one” points, but in return there is no official response from Sofia.
– In return, we have not received anything from Sofia, although there was speculation from senior officials that something has been received, I as an institution have not received anything, neither verbally nor in writing. De facto, we got the answer today and yesterday with the latest veto of Bulgaria. It is clear that they do not like the answers we sent them for those few points, but these are red lines that no one can deviate from, so in February and March whenever those five, six are set. points on the table, our answer will be identical, Pendarovski is decisive.
Regarding whether we can expect a shift in positions, given that Bulgaria has submitted its terms to the negotiating framework in Brussels, where it is said that even if the framework is adopted, it does not mean that negotiations will begin, Pendarovski said. works for the same rhetoric, and that last year when the Bulgarians first announced early parliamentary elections in April, his first appeal was not to hope for a quick solution.
– I see that from the fact that their declaration was voted by a parliament of 250 people, meaning everyone and the then government and opposition. It is a matter of historical and political continuity and I said to go step by step without haste. And now I say the same thing, we have been waiting for 17 years with the status of a candidate country. I am not saying to wait another year, two, five, but if you have a statement like the last one which, not to say, has not changed since communist times, in terms of how Sofia views the Macedonian issue, we can not go through with wall, Pendarovski estimates.
That’s right, said Pendarovski, because not only do we have our parliamentary declaration, our red lines supported by all, but because common sense, even if you are not a politician, but an ordinary citizen suggests that you can not talk about nebulous things, because it has no contact with the set of criteria according to which all previous candidates entered the membership.
Source: Sloboden Pecat
