site.btaTISP: Bulgaria Has Achieved Rare Geopolitical Victory for First Time

Bulgaria has achieved a significant geopolitical victory by defending its national interest and blocking a backdoor attempt to include contested language in the European Parliament's annual report on North Macedonia’s EU accession progress, MP Stanislav Balabanov from There Is Such a People (TISP) told journalists in Parliament.

His statement followed the European Parliament's adoption of the report, which prompted tensions in Bulgaria over the proposed wording referring to a “Macedonian language and identity.” The draft report was approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee on June 24 with 40 votes in favor, 19 against, and 10 abstentions. During that session, the committee rejected an amendment by the European People’s Party (EPP) that sought to insert the qualifier “modern” before the phrase “Macedonian language and identity.”

"The final report was passed without the reference to 'Macedonian language and identity'- something North Macedonia tried to push through behind the scenes," Balabanov said.

He described the outcome as a collective effort to protect Bulgaria’s position. "This is a huge success for Bulgaria, and this must be the standard going forward. North Macedonia must finally understand that we do not oppose their EU path in principle, but that it must be tied to the full implementation of the agreements we signed back in 2017," he stressed.

Addressing North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski directly, Balabanov added: “Let Mickoski understand that TISP stopped him—with the support of everyone else. We stopped his attempt to ride a backstage wave to keep his ‘pitiable government’ afloat. If he doesn’t follow the agreed path, he’ll go down in history as a failure, and North Macedonia will remain outside the European Union.”