site.btaMinister Zaharieva: It Is in Bulgaria's National Interest that Macedonia Join NATO, Start Accession Negotiations with EU

ESD 18:42:31 10-12-2018
DS1841ES.114
114 POLITICS - FOREIGN MINISTER - MACEDONIA - COMMENT

Minister Zaharieva: It Is in Bulgaria's
National Interest that Macedonia Join
NATO, Start Accession Negotiations with EU


Brussels, December 10 (BTA Correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Approached by Bulgarian reporters here on Monday, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said that it is in Bulgaria's national interest that Macedonia join NATO and start accession negotiations with the EU.

In her words, the signing of the bilateral Treaty of Friendship, Goodneighbourliness and Cooperation is just the start of the work between Bulgaria and Macedonia, and called for results from the work of the Bulgarian-Macedonian commission of historians. "We do not want anything unusual: we want the truth about the two countries' history," she added.

Talking about an EU Foreign Affairs Council that she attended in Brussels on Monday, Zaharieva said the majority of Member States agreed that the road to and motivation for reforms is the European perspective of all Western Balkan countries. There was a call for the reforms' implementation, she added. On its part, Bulgaria called for the start of accession negotiations with Macedonia and Albania next year, as was decided in Luxembourg in June.

Zaharieva noted the need of implementing the Treaty of Friendship between Bulgaria and Macedonia. Bulgaria's strict condition is that, if a decision on the start of negotiations is taken, all goodneighbourliness-related commitments have to be fulfilled. No unsolved issues should remain prior to Macedonia's accession to the EU.

Asked about the events in the Kerch Strait, Zaharieva said that Bulgaria calls for the immediate release of the seized sailors and vessels. The common call was for restoration of free passage through the Kerch Strait and of navigation in the Sea of Azov, she also said.

The Council called for non-postponement of the presidential elections in Ukraine next year and for the observation of human rights, regardless of the martial law declared in separate regions, Zaharieva told reporters. There currently is no information about infringement on human rights, she specified.

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