site.btaPM Mickoski: "All Holders of Bulgarian Passports Will Tear Them Up the Day North Macedonia Joins EU"

According to the Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, Hristijan Mickoski, citizens of his country are not seeking to obtain Bulgarian passports "over a sense of ethnic or national belonging" and "will tear up their Bulgarian passports the day this country joins the EU". Mickoski was asked whether he will demand of the citizens of North Macedonia who also have Bulgarian passports, to give them up.

He said, "It is a matter of a personal decision. The real question is why Macedonian citizens did not apply for a Bulgarian passport before Bulgaria joined the EU. The Bulgarian passport is not because of ethnicity or nationality belonging. As far as I know, Macedonians, Albanians, Turks, Serbs, Vlachs and Bosniaks all have Bulgarian passports - for economic reasons. They think that this will make it easier for them to get a job in EU countries. Not because they feel they are Bulgarian. I am sure that this [Bulgarian self-awareness] is not the reason. And I'm sure they would all give up [their Bulgarian passports] tomorrow if this injustice of waiting two and a half decades to start negotiations [with the EU] hadn't happened. If we had a normal path, like all the new EU member states, I guarantee you that not a single citizen would apply for a Bulgarian passport. We have many internal problems, but we deserve much more than many EU Member States [to be a member of the EU]. And I guarantee you that if we get what we deserve, the first day we become an EU member, they will tear them up [the Bulgarian passports]. I guarantee you that," said Mickoski.

His remarks were broadcast online on the government channel.

Asked whether there is another option that does not include a change of the negotiating framework, which is a condition for a real start of the negotiations on North Macedonia's accession with the EU, Mickoski reiterated that the alternative is constitutional changes to include Bulgarians in the country's basic law with a delayed entry into force.

"If there is a will, there is a way, and here is the way," said Mickoski. He added that he has discussed the idea "with all international representatives".