North Macedonia has cleared another hurdle on the way to EU accession negotiations. Parliament in Skopje on Saturday approved an agreement with Bulgaria to recognize the Bulgarian minority in North Macedonia. The Bulgarian Chamber of Deputies had already approved the agreement proposed by France in June, ending Bulgaria’s resistance to the start of talks on North Macedonia’s admission to the EU.
As in Bulgaria, the decision in North Macedonia was made against fierce opposition from the opposition. There were also protests on the country’s streets. Nevertheless, 68 of the 120 MPs in Skopje voted in favor of the agreement, which provides for a constitutional change. The representatives of the national conservative opposition party VMRO-DPMNE had left the hall before the vote.
They consider the French proposal to be harmful and speak of the threat of “Bulgarianization” in North Macedonia. Among other things, the plan provides for the rights of the Bulgarian minority, which numbers only a few thousand people, to be protected by the constitution. However, a two-thirds majority in Parliament is required for the corresponding change, which is currently not in sight.
Neighbors put up hurdles
North Macedonia has been waiting for talks with the EU to start since 2008. And Bulgaria was not the first neighboring country to put obstacles in its way. For years, Greece blocked the southeastern European country’s rapprochement with the EU and NATO. North Macedonia changed its name and constitution to overcome this.
After that, resistance came from Sofia to wrest concessions from Skopje on minority, historical interpretation and language issues. The fact that EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen assured the Macedonian MPs on Thursday does not change that: “Bilateral issues such as the interpretation of history are not a condition of the accession talks.” The opposition, but also liberal critics, fear that the compromise will allow Bulgaria to further impede the progress of the negotiations. (reu/apa)