site.btaMPs Yordanka Fandakova and Denitsa Sacheva Meet With Representatives of the Bulgarian Community in North Macedonia the National Assembly

Yordanka Fandakova, the chair of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, welcomed representatives of the Bulgarian community in the Republic of North Macedonia to the National Assembly on Thursday, the committee announced. Denitsa Sacheva, head of the Bulgarian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), also attended the meeting.

The conversation focused on the rights of Bulgarians in North Macedonia. The committee chair strongly condemned a hate attack against Vladimir Perev, a prominent journalist and defender of the rights of the Bulgarian community in North Macedonia who attended the meeting. She personally thanked all her interlocutors for defending the just cause at the cost of their personal safety and integrity.

The guests briefed Fandakova and Sacheva on a proposed Action Plan to protect the rights of ethnic minorities in North Macedonia. In 2022, the country committed to adopting it through an inclusive process, and its implementation will be subject to continuous monitoring during the negotiations. According to the guests, the draft Plan was only provided to the communities in North Macedonia in English in the last few days, and the deadline for written proposals is at the beginning of next week. Bulgarians in North Macedonia appealed for assistance, insisting that Skopje enter into dialogue with Bulgaria on this issue.

Yordanka Fandakova and Denitsa Sacheva emphasized the unconditional support for Bulgarians in North Macedonia from all Bulgarian institutions, including the National Assembly. Fandakova added that Bulgaria will continue to insist that North Macedonia guarantees the fundamental rights and dignity of all its citizens, regardless of their background. She recalled that the 2025 European Commission Report on North Macedonia again noted that no attempts have been made to adopt the relevant constitutional changes that Skopje committed itself to implementing before all EU member states.

Fandakova described any attempts to renegotiate, circumvent or disregard any elements of the 2022 European consensus as unacceptable. According to her, such actions by the North Macedonian government would only further delay the start of negotiations with the EU, calling into serious question the sincerity and reliability of their intentions.