site.btaBulgarian Parliamentary Groups Express Concern about Situation in Macedonia

Bulgarian Parliamentary Groups Express Concern about Situation in Macedonia

Sofia, May 13 (BTA) - Political groups in the Bulgarian
Parliament issued declarations on Wednesday expressing their
concern about the political situation in Macedonia.

ABV

The ABV group said that the events in Kumanovo, northern
Macedonia, are a sad example of how the violation of fundamental
principles and freedoms, the fomenting of hatred and division
in society can easily grow into a human tragedy. The party
expressed its hope that this will remain an isolated incident
and that the instigators and the perpetrators will be punished.
ABV called on the government and the opposition in Macedonia and
all political parties in the country to refrain from using hate
talk and from any actions that could cause further disturbances
and clashes. It urged the leaders of political parties and
ethnic groups to engage in immediate, direct dialogue in order
to ensure that the political process will be democratic and the
various communities will be treated equally.

ABV said that Macedonia's neighbours should refrain from
interfering in its internal affairs by issuing separatist calls
or attempting to redraw national borders in the region.

ABV insisted that the Bulgarian government should make a
comprehensive assessment of the situation in Macedonia in view
of the potential risks and threats it poses to Bulgaria.

PATRIOTIC FRONT

Bulgaria should be an active factor for the future of the
Western Balkans, the Patriotic Front said. Bulgaria should be
the stabilizing factor, the intermediary proposing
consensus-based solutions between Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo and
Albania, the group said.

According to the Patriotic Front, Bulgaria should clearly demand
an end to the persecution of people with Bulgarian ethnic
awareness in Macedonia and an end to anti-Bulgarian rhetoric
there. It should also demand a reform of the political system in
that country, a removal of all lies from the school syllabus,
and a cessation of territorial claims. The government in Skopje
should be aware that Macedonia's shortest way to Brussels goes
via Sofia, not via Belgrade, Pristina or Tirana, let alone
Ankara, the group said.

Nearly two million Bulgarians live in the Western Balkans: in
Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo. Sofia should draw up a strategy for
the Bulgarian communities abroad; keep insisting on an agreement
on good neighbourly relations with Macedonia; and prepare an
action plan in case of a refugee problem, the Patriotic Front
said. It said Bulgaria must stop acting as a passive observer,
give up its silent diplomacy and begin to provide active care
for the Bulgarian communities in the Balkans.

BULGARIAN SOCIALIST PARTY

Bulgaria should not agree to the moratorium on EU enlargement,
the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) said. According to the
group, the international situation is becoming increasingly
unsettled and the instability is threatening to affect the
Balkans, so Macedonia is not the only element of instability.
The geography of instability and confrontation is much wider as
it includes the events in the Middle East, the extreme Islamist
movements and the armed conflict in Ukraine.

The Bulgarian government should do everything necessary to
protect Bulgaria's stability, invigorating the political
dialogue at the EU level and with Macedonia, the Socialists
said. They acknowledged that in Bulgaria, the Movement for
Rights and Freedoms (MRF) has helped to avert tensions and risks
which could have changed the course of sociopolitical
processes. But BSP wondered whether nowadays MRF is consistent
in its actions and whether it is really evolving as a Bulgarian
national party free of external influences.

MOVEMENT FOR RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) said that Bulgaria,
as an EU member state, should lead the way in devising a new
strategy for accelerated EU enlargement encompassing the Western
Balkans. The conflict in Kumanovo reminded us that the
transition from totalitarianism to democracy in most Balkan
countries which used to be part of the Soviet bloc has been
marked by bloody ethnic and religious conflicts which have
claimed hundreds of thousands of innocent lives, MRF said.

Bulgaria is the only country where the transition has been
peaceful and no blood has been shed, MRF said. This has been
possible because of the specific ethnic model in Bulgaria, in
which MRF has played a major role, the party said. MRF chose to
develop as a national Liberal party, not as a closed
ethno-religious party. In every other Balkan country there are
ethnic parties. Bulgaria chose a different model: the model of
integration, of representation of diversity through national
parties. If the same model had been adopted in the Western
Balkans, we would not have witnessed these bloody conflicts
today, MRF said.

The party recalled that it has proposed to the ALDE group in the
European Parliament a concept for a new strategy for the
Western Balkans' accelerated integration into the EU. MRF said
it is firmly opposed to the five-year moratorium on the EU's
further enlargement imposed by European Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker.

ATAKA

The developments in Macedonia are the result of a fire which has
long been fanned by external factors, Ataka said. According to
the party, the events in Kumanovo were orchestrated by special
US envoys. This is not the result of ethnic hostilities: these
are keys being pressed by the special US envoys, Ataka said,
adding that the Americans, with their anti-European policy, have
started all the fires in the Balkans over the last two decades.
The one in Macedonia was started in order to stop certain
energy projects, Ataka said.