Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani has said that communication between Skopje and Sofia is still ongoing to find a solution. Also, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov has said he hopes that a joint solution would be found next year for the country to move forward on its path to EU accession.
“Communication with Bulgaria is continuing and regardless of recent events, this should not affect the two countries in seeking a solution and overcoming this obstacle. After the veto and ahead of the next Council we will have to sit down and discuss about the approach in finding a solution. I expect a solution and continued communication after the New Year’s holidays,” Osmani told reporters on Tuesday.
With regards to Bulgarian FM Ekaterina Zaharieva’s statement that all not all countries favor North Macedonia’s EU membership, Osmani said the support by 26 member-states is absolutely clear.
Their support is unequivocal, he stressed. “This is not only because their support is principled but because it is deserved. It is obvious that the bilateral issue has turned into a veto in the process but you are aware that the Council decisions are made by consensus. Nevertheless, the support by the 26 member-states is encouraging, as well as their principled position that bilateral issues should not be part of the European process,” said Osmani, who last week toured several countries including the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary and Austria.
I believe, Osmani noted, that Bulgaria also supports the region’s accession to the Union because it is in their geostrategic interest.
On the non-paper that Special Representative Vlado Buchkovski handed over to the Bulgarian authorities during his recent visit to Sofia, the FM said they have not received a response yet.
On Tuesday, Philip Reeker, the US Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and former Ambassador to North Macedonia, said the US goals for peace and prosperity of North Macedonia remained the same as in the past 25 years. Via a video-conference link, he addressed a launch of a postage stamp marking the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between North Macedonia and the US.
Reeker noted that the countries’ partnership would continue in the coming weeks and months after the change in power in the US, adding that his country strongly supported North Macedonia on its path to EU membership.
Also on Tuesday, Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov said he hoped that a joint solution to the countries’ dispute would be found.
“I hope next year together with [ministers] Zaharieva and Karakachanov we’ll find a joint solution to North Macedonia’s accession to the EU, the same as we had supported the country to join NATO. It’s a matter of political will from the two sides to get there,” he said at a government session where it was decided that Bulgaria would donate a portion of COVID-19 vaccines to North Macedonia from every batch of shots that would arrive in Bulgaria.
Health Minister Venko Filipche was also in attendance.
Furthermore, the Bulgarian Center for Analysis and Crisis Communications has said that Sofia’s relations with Skopje could be one of the six likely crisis situations for Bulgaria next year due to the risk of turning into a communication crisis that might damage the country’s image.
According to the analysis, the issue has the potential to become the hostage of pseudo-patriotic political formations. “Strategic communication by the government is lacking, the topic is not entirely discussed about in our society and it’s not well presented to the European partners either,” says the Center.
