The European Parliament said Wednesday that Bulgaria’s veto of the start of North Macedonia’s negotiations with the EU is hindering reconciliation gains and progress in the region, MIA’s Brussels correspondent reports.

Ilhan Kyuchyuk, EP’s standing rapporteur for North Macedonia, and Andreas Schieder, Chair of EP’s delegation to the EU-North Macedonia Joint Parliamentary Committee, in a joint statement called for a decision to be made without delay allowing accession negotiations to start.

“The failure of European Affairs ministers to approve the negotiating framework of North Macedonia, thus delaying the EU accession talks, puts the Union’s credibility in the Western Balkans at risk,” they say.

According to the MEPs, prioritizing unilateral interests over a joint European solution and the lack of political will to overcome differences sends the wrong message to the Western Balkan partners.

“Now is the time to work through this impasse towards the joint future,” they underscore.

“We acknowledge progress made by Skopje in fundamental democratic and economic reforms and call upon all parties to continue a constructive dialogue based on good neighbourly relations and the implementation of the Friendship Treaty, in line with a predictable, objective, and merit-based reformed EU accession process,” says MEPs Kyuchyuk and Schieder.

Holding the first official intergovernmental conference by the end of 2020 would be a clear result of such a dialogue, they conclude.