site.btaBulgaria's Foreign Ministry: Identity and Language Issues Should Be Addressed in Scholarly and Academic Discourse

Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry acknowledges the resolution adopted by a substantial majority in the European Parliament, which keeps the institution from getting involved in attempts at political instrumentalization by the Republic of North Macedonia, aimed at circumventing the commitments arising from what is known as the European compromise of 2022, the Ministry said in a position on Wednesday. In the context of EU enlargement, issues related to identity and language should be addressed within the framework of scholarly and academic discourse, as by their nature, they do not fall within the scope of the institutional assessment of candidate countries' progress based on objective and measurable accession criteria, the Foreign Ministry said.

The European compromise is a reference to a proposal by the then outgoing French EU Presidency in 2022, aimed at overcoming a series of tensions between Sofia and Skopje over language, history, and the rights of ethnic Bulgarians in North Macedonia. Without making a specific mention of a "Bulgarian minority", the proposal obliged North Macedonia's government to protect the rights of all "minorities and communities" by preventing hate speech and discrimination and to respect the 2017 Friendship Treaty with Bulgaria. Once its Parliament endorsed the deal, Bulgaria lifted its veto blocking EU-North Macedonia accession talks. 

Through its resolution, the European Parliament reaffirmed its role as an impartial and independent institution committed to monitoring the reform progress of the Republic of North Macedonia, the Foreign Ministry said. Particular emphasis is placed on findings related to the rule of law, the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, the functioning of democratic institutions, the implementation of key reforms, the fulfillment of contractual obligations, and the influence of external actors. These are precisely the areas that should remain the focus of the authorities in Skopje, if lasting European integration remains the objective, the Ministry said.

Bulgaria consistently supports the European perspective of all countries of the Western Balkans, based on objective membership criteria and the strict application of the own-merit principle. Departures from the established conditionality, as well as attempts to use European institutions for short-term domestic political gains, not only delay the accession process but also undermine trust among countries in the region. This has a negative impact on good neighbourly relations, which constitute a horizontal and indispensable element of the EU accession process, the Foreign Ministry said.

Earlier on Wednesday, references to language and identity in the European Parliament's resolution on the annual report on the progress of the Republic of North Macedonia towards EU accession were removed. The European Parliament voted 461-121, with 107 abstentions, out of 689 members who voted in the 720-seat Parliament.

On July 3, Andrey Kovatchev MEP of the European People's Party (EPP/GERB) said in a Facebook post: "The three largest political groups in the European Parliament: the EPP, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats and Renew Europe (...) reached agreement on dropping all references to 'Macedonian identity' and 'Macedonian language' from the EP draft resolution on the North Macedonia progress report."

"Topics of identity and language are out of place in a report on the progress of a EU candidate country," Kovatchev said. He argued that such topics are merely divisive and open a Pandora's box. "In this particular case, this is confirmed by the persistent appearances of the powerholders in Skopje and especially by Prime Minister Mickoski with his manipulations about 'centuries-old identity and language'," the Bulgarian MEP added.