site.btaPresident Radev Urges Skopje to Enshrine Bulgarians in Constitution to Advance EU Path

President Rumen Radev said that including Bulgarians in the constitution of the Republic of North Macedonia would significantly speed up the country's path towards the EU and open the door to accession talks, the President’s press secretariat said here Thursday.

He spoke at a meeting at the President's administration with representatives of organisations of the Bulgarian community in the Republic of North Macedonia from the cities of Bitola, Ohrid, Skopje, Prilep, Kavadarci and Kochani.

Every democratic State has a duty to protect effectively the rights of all citizens and to guarantee the right to self-determination, Radev said during the meeting. "We all hope that the integration of the Republic of North Macedonia will happen as soon as possible, but this cannot be at the expense of the rights of the Bulgarian community in the country," Radev added. He expressed hope that the authorities in the Republic of North Macedonia would implement the 2022 European compromise as soon as possible and include Bulgarians in the constitution.

Radev noted that Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia were the first to raise the issue of effective guarantees for the rights of the Bulgarian community in that country, and this is now a common cause of all Bulgarian institutions and of the European Union.

Representatives of Bulgarian organizations stated that the Republic of North Macedonia must not use the Bulgarian community as an excuse to delay reforms needed for the country’s progress towards EU membership. They firmly opposed any proposal for constitutional amendments with deferred effect or additional conditions, emphasizing that these concern the protection of fundamental human rights. As loyal citizens of the country, the Bulgarian community expects the institutions in Skopje to ensure equal rights and effective protection against discrimination, the representatives stressed.

The ongoing process in Skopje of drafting and adopting an Action Plan for the protection of the rights of communities, which is an important commitment of North Macedonia under the 2022 European compromise, raises serious concerns, the representatives said. They drew particular attention to the fact that the Bulgarian community was not included from the outset in the preparation of this Plan, as well as to the extremely short deadline within which organizations were suddenly asked to provide assessments and proposals on the Plan, they added.

Media in Bulgaria should engage not only when there are the most serious attacks against Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia but also with cultural and public events that are important for people on both sides of the border, the representatives of the Bulgarian organisations said. They expressed hope that Bulgaria would encourage more students from the south-western neighbour to study at Bulgarian universities, which is extremely important for fostering contacts between young people in the two countries, the representatives added.

In 2022 EU member states approved a compromise framework which linked the start of accession talks with North Macedonia to constitutional changes including Bulgarians among the country’s recognized communities and to concrete steps on the rule of law. In June 2023 the Bulgarian government said it expected Skopje to implement this European compromise, and in late May and early June 2025 Parliament adopted a unanimous resolution and a separate decision which tied support for North Macedonia’s EU path to a roadmap on the rule of law and to a targeted Action Plan for the protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities or communities, whose implementation should be monitored by the European Commission.

Bulgarian institutions have repeatedly raised concern about pressure and hate incidents against the Bulgarian community in the Republic of North Macedonia, including institutional measures such as the closure of the Ivan Mihailov Cultural Club in Bitola and physical attacks against activists like Vladimir Perev in Skopje. In May 2025 the parliamentary committee on policies for Bulgarians abroad adopted a protest letter over what it described as growing institutional repression, while the Foreign Ministry has linked effective investigation and punishment of hate speech and hate crimes against Bulgarians to progress on North Macedonia’s EU track.