site.btaBulgarian Institutions Link Skopje’s EU Path to Guarantees for Rights of Bulgarians in North Macedonia

Bulgarian institutions sent a strong, coordinated signal on Thursday that progress on North Macedonia’s EU path depends on real guarantees for the rights and security of citizens with Bulgarian identity.

At a regular sitting, Parliament’s Foreign Policy Committee adopted a declaration condemning the recent assault in Skopje on journalist Vladimir Perev as “another act of hate-motivated violence against a Bulgarian in the Republic of North Macedonia” and urged the authorities in Skopje to stop all actions and rhetoric that justify or downplay such attacks and to deliver the long-overdue constitutional amendments.

Committee Chair Yordanka Fandakova and Denitsa Sacheva, head of the Bulgarian delegation to PACE, separately met representatives of the Bulgarian community in North Macedonia at the National Assembly. Fandakova condemned the hate attack against Perev and thanked the guests for defending what she described as a just cause at the cost of their personal safety. She underlined that there is “unconditional support for Bulgarians in North Macedonia from all Bulgarian institutions” and warned that attempts in Skopje to renegotiate or circumvent elements of the 2022 European consensus would only further delay the start of EU accession talks.

In a parallel initiative, the parliamentary Committee on Policies for Bulgarians Abroad brought together in Sofia around 20 associations from North Macedonia, along with activists and journalists, to hear first-hand accounts of the pressures they face. Committee Chair Stoyan Taslakov said the meeting aimed to show those communities they had not been forgotten and pointed to cases of physical attacks and intimidation. “You heard here today – there are beaten people, their children have been beaten, there are arrests, broken bones, shots fired at offices. All of this is the result of targeted hatred instilled by the authorities in North Macedonia for decades,” Taslakov said. Earlier in the day he also noted that the hate-motivated attack against Perev had already prompted a unanimous condemnation by the Foreign Policy Committee.

At the Presidency, President Rumen Radev met with representatives of organizations of the Bulgarian community from Bitola, Ohrid, Skopje, Prilep, Kavadarci and Kochani and tied constitutional change directly to Skopje’s EU ambitions. “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 said, expressing hope that the 2022 European compromise would be implemented swiftly and that Bulgarians would be included in the constitution. Representatives of Bulgarian organizations in North Macedonia warned that the community must not be used “as an excuse to delay reforms needed for the country’s progress towards EU membership” and voiced concern about the way Skopje is handling the Action Plan on community rights.