Bulgariaʼs parliament has voted to lift the veto on further European integration of northern Macedonia. They agreed to allow the talks to continue if the Macedonians meet certain conditions.
This was reported by the Bulgarian National Television.
170 deputies voted for this decision, and 37 opposed it.
Further talks with the EU and Northern Macedonia have instructed the government to conduct them. MPs stressed that they are ready to lift the veto if Northern Macedonia:
- effectively implements the 2017 Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness, and Cooperation;
- enshrine in the Constitution of the country the rights of Bulgarians along with other peoples.
The EU must provide its own guarantees for the implementation of these points. Bulgaria has backed a French plan to resolve the dispute with northern Macedonia, which includes including Bulgarians in the countryʼs constitution and implementing all provisions of the Neighborhood Agreement. At the same time, they emphasize that all these negotiations and documents cannot be interpreted as the recognition of the Macedonian language by Bulgarians.
What is the conflict about?
Northern Macedoniaʼs accession to the EU and NATO is accompanied by conflicts with its neighbors, Greece and Bulgaria. Initially, Greece opposed the name of this country, believing that Macedonia can only be a name of a Greek region. Finally, in 2018, Macedonians changed their name to Northern Macedonia, and Greece unblocked the countryʼs accession to NATO.
But after that, Bulgaria began blocking Northern Macedoniaʼs accession to the EU. Macedonia was granted EU candidate status in 2005 but has not started accession talks since its neighbors were blocking it. Bulgaria believes that "anti-Bulgarian ideology" is being pursued in northern Macedonia and that historical ties with Bulgarians are denied. It is believed that the Macedonian historical national heroes were Bulgarians, and the Macedonian language is Bulgarian.