North Macedonia’s lawmakers on Saturday voted down a French-brokered deal aimed at resolving a dispute with Bulgaria and paving the way for long-delayed European Union accession talks.
With 68 votes, the 120-seat parliament voted in favor of the deal. The opposition MPs did not participate in the vote and left the room.
The agreement proposes amending the constitution of North Macedonia to recognize the Bulgarian minority, while the remaining issues will be discussed between Skopje and Sofia. The proposal does not require Bulgaria to recognize the Macedonian language.
In return, Bulgaria will allow its Western Balkan neighbor to start accession talks with the EU. The main opposition nationalist party bloc VMRE-DPMNE has led daily protests since early July over the deal, which they say jeopardizes Macedonian language and identity. After the deal was approved, ruling party MPs raised EU and North Macedonian flags. Bulgaria’s parliament lifted its veto on Macedonia-EU talks last month. This also sparked protests in Bulgaria and contributed to the no-confidence vote that toppled the government.
North Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic, has been a candidate for EU membership for 17 years, but approval for talks was blocked first by Greece and then by Bulgaria.
Source: Capital
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