site.btaInscribing Bulgarians in North Macedonia's Constitution Is Precondition for Country’s Full EU Membership - PM Zhelyazkov

Responding to reporter’s question during a joint news briefing with European Council President Antonio Costa here Thursday, Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said: “We have never sought arguments in the domestic political debates in the Republic of North Macedonia, but we hope that the language of hatred will stop, the rights of the Bulgarian minority will be respected and the commitment for it to be inscribed in North Macedonia’s Constitution will be honoured.” “This is a precondition for continuing on the path to full membership in the European Union,” Zhelyazkov added.

“Bulgaria's position on the integration of the Republic of Macedonia into the EU has always been consistent and principled. The Bulgarian governments of Boyko Borissov worked well with the governments of North Macedonia, the governments of Zaev and Kovacevski,” the Bulgarian Prime Minister said. He recalled that a Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation was signed, adding that “a modus had been found that would allow North Macedonia and other Western Balkan countries to move forward in the accession process, based on their own merit.”

“The French Presidency's compromise proposal was adopted by the Council, approved by the Bulgarian Parliament, and has not changed - either in principle or in approach,” Zhelyazkov said. “It is therefore unfounded for our colleagues in Skopje to suggest that there is any Bulgarian dictation,” he added. He also noted that the Bulgarian National Assembly reaffirmed its position earlier this year, explicitly declaring that no additional demands would be made beyond those already agreed upon.

The Prime Minister also called the appeal filed with North Macedonia’s Constitutional Court against the protocol of the Second Meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission with Bulgaria “unjustified and unnecessary.”