site.btaNorth Macedonia's Former Foreign Minister Osmani on Country's EU Path: Only Two Bulgaria-related Issues Constitute Indispensable Conditions

Albanians in the Republic of North Macedonia are dissatisfied with the country's stalled path toward the European Union, former foreign minister and deputy leader of the largest Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), Bujar Osmani, said in an interview with the website Sloboden Pecat on Friday.

According to Osmani, the delayed European integration process is hindering the country's development. At the same time, he argued that the way the authorities in Skopje explain the reasons for the delay is intended to divert attention from citizens' real problems, while the architecture of the Ohrid Framework Agreement - on which the state is built - is being undermined. Albanians account for more than 20% of North Macedonia's population.

Osmani said that the negotiating framework contains "only two issues involving Bulgaria that constitute indispensable conditions."

"These conditions are the constitutional amendments and the Action Plan on Minorities [the Action Plan on the Rights of Minorities and Communities in North Macedonia]. My proposal [to the government] was that, since the constitutional amendment process takes around 100 days and requires three parliamentary votes, the final vote should not take place until Bulgaria gives its consent, that is, until an agreement is reached on the content of the Action Plan on Minorities. The plan's content must be adopted, while its implementation continues throughout the negotiation process. This should be discussed with Bulgaria, of course, if the government decides to proceed with constitutional changes," Osmani said.

The former foreign minister, who was involved in drafting North Macedonia's EU negotiating framework, stressed that all EU candidate countries have their own minority action plans. He added that "the protocols and the Treaty of Friendship, Good-Neighbourliness and Cooperation with Bulgaria are part of bilateral good-neighbourly relations, and there is no European monitoring mechanism for their implementation."

"This is exactly where the propaganda is being conducted here [in North Macedonia] all the time. The easiest thing is to abandon the European integration process and then there will be no demands - from either Bulgaria or the EU. The government can simply decide that it no longer wants to continue on this path, and then the negotiating framework, the Friendship Treaty and the protocols become irrelevant. The question is at what cost," Osmani said.

According to him, the consequences of North Macedonia failing to begin EU accession negotiations are clear. He described the likely outcome as "passportization," citing data from Albania's population censuses.

"In 2011, the entire Slavic population in Albania identified as from North Macedonia and numbered 5,500 people. In the 2023 census, however, 7,000 people identified as Bulgarian and 2,300 as from North Macedonia," Osmani said.