site.btaEU Candidate Countries Must Meet Clear Criteria, Says Foreign Minister on North Macedonia’s EU Accession Bid

EU membership is not a given, but is based on clear criteria and conditions that every candidate country must meet, Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev told reporters in Parliament on Thursday. He commented on the postponed vote of the European Parliament’s (EP) progress report on the Republic of North Macedonia’s EU accession path.

Referring to a National Assembly resolution of May 30 on the progress of the Republic of North Macedonia in the process of EU accession, Georgiev said that an important component of the resolution is that there are no and cannot be any additional conditions or requirements for the Republic of North Macedonia during its progress towards EU accession. "This is a clear and sufficient message of our consistency, which reaffirms the messages we have always sent, and through it we respond, at the highest state level in Bulgaria, to the so-called concerns of our partners and friends across the western border, who have repeatedly voiced fears that if they amend their constitution, Bulgaria might impose additional conditions. This has not been, is not, and will not be the case," he said.

On Wednesday, the EP Foreign Affairs Committee decided to delay the vote on the report, following a proposal by rapporteur Thomas Waitz. The vote in the parliamentary committee is scheduled to take place on June 24 and in the EP plenary in Strasbourg in July.

"There was quite intensive political debate around this report. I must say that I absolutely stand behind my report. All groups have been involved into the negotiations. All groups have participated in forming these compromises. This is a report of the EP and the European Union to the state of accession when it comes to the country of North Macedonia. This report is not there to solve bilateral issues between Bulgaria and North Macedonia. But the treatment of minorities is a European issue," Waitz said.