Bulgarian demands over identity have nothing to do with the criteria needed for EU accession, Dutch Green MEP Tineke Strik told Brussels-based online newspaper EUobserver.
“We don’t see really a destruction from the side of North Macedonia, we really see more a kind of polluting process by the Bulgarian authorities,” she said.
She also said Bulgaria’s blockade to North Macedonia risks eroding EU credibility in the country and region.
“They need to have that perspective and we need to deliver,” she said.
EUobserver mentions that the Balkan state had spent decades resolving a name dispute over ‘Macedonia’ with Greece. The two sides found a solution in the 2018 Prespa agreement, clearing a path for EU accession talks.
“North Macedonia’s prospective for accession then gained pace early last year, following a meeting by EU foreign ministers. But Bulgaria in November then vetoed the talks, sparking a new crisis which critics say plays into the hands of nationalists,” EUobserver reads.
A high representative from the North Macedonian government, who asked not to be named, told EUobserver that the latest debacle is more complicated than simply the name dispute with Greece.
“With Bulgaria it seems less tangible, but more complicated – just because it is less tangible”, he said.
He said other countries in the region, like Serbia and Bosnia, may renege on sorting their own problems, if North Macedonia’s accession fails to advance.
“What is going on seems like a never-ending story, whatever we do it is never enough,” he said.
The Brussels-based online newspaper adds that the European Parliament on Thursday will vote on the issue, as part of North Macedonia’s stalled accession talks to the European Union.
An amendment, tabled by left-leaning MEPs, has now triggered a further backlash among some Bulgarian counterparts. The MEPs want Bulgarian authorities to stop issuing “provocative statements” against North Macedonia. They also praise North Macedonia’s “mature and balanced response” to Bulgaria’s onslaught, EUobserver notes.
