The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, today called on North Macedonia to seize the opportunity and accept the EU’s proposal to settle the differences between Skopje and Sofia, so that the country can start accession negotiations with the EU.
“You have a historic opportunity to say “yes” to the start of accession negotiations, “yes” to the EU, “yes” to our children… The decision for this is yours, it is your sovereign right,” said Charles Michel, after the meeting he had today in Skopje with the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski.
Charles Michel recalled that last week the European Council tabled a compromise proposal to overcome the differences between North Macedonia and Bulgaria. This proposal has been accepted by the official Sofia, while the government of Dimitar Kovacevski in Skopje said that it will announce its position on the proposal, after the completion of the consultations that started inside the country and which are expected to be completed in the next few days. .
“Personally, I am convinced that the proposal is a balanced solution, which puts your concerns to rest. The aim is clear: to start accession negotiations and ultimately move towards building our common future in the EU. If you say yes, the first intergovernmental conference (i.e. between the EU and North Macedonia) will be organized in the next few days,” said Charles Michel after his meeting with Dimitar Kovacevski.
According to the EU’s latest proposal (which was recently tabled by the now-expired French presidency), if the governments of Bulgaria and North Macedonia agree to it, then it will be decided immediately to start Skopje’s accession negotiations with the EU, however, the opening of the first chapters will take place after North Macedonia first amends its Constitution, with the inclusion of the Bulgarian minority living in the country.
The prime minister of North Macedonia, after today’s meeting with the president of the European Council, noted that the latest EU proposal takes into account the sensitivities of his country regarding the issues of language and national identity and announced that a discussion will be held in the near future in the Parliament of North Macedonia on the proposal, for which, as he pointed out, it is a joint proposal of the 27 EU member states.
This EU proposal is strongly opposed by North Macedonia’s largest opposition party, the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE, which claims that the proposal “satisfies Bulgarian demands that endanger history, language, identity and cultural heritage of North Macedonia.
For the last four days, massive protests by opposition supporters have been taking place in front of the government building of North Macedonia, demanding the rejection of the proposal by the government.
For a year and a half, Bulgaria has blocked the start of North Macedonia’s accession negotiations with the EU due to open ethnic, linguistic and historical differences between the two countries, which has provoked strong reactions from Skopje and led to a cooling of their relations.
SOURCE: APE-ME
Source: Capital
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