site.btaForeign Minister Osmani: Good-Neighbourliness Treaty with Bulgaria Cannot Be Obstacle on EU Membership Path for North Macedonia

North Macedonia's Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani published Saturday a video in which he gives a brief explanation of the essence of the negotiating framework for the country's EU membership, pointing out that the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation with Bulgaria cannot be an obstacle on the way to the country's EU membership.

In the video on his Facebook account, Osmani explains that the negotiating framework is divided into two parts. One part is general and does not require a report from the European Commission or a vote of the member states. The other one is the special part of the negotiating framework with the 35 negotiating chapters where certain criteria have to be met and the European Commission prepares a report and the member states vote. 

The criteria are contained in the three roadmaps that North Macedonia will draw up after the screening and that the European Union will adopt. These are: a roadmap for the rule of law, a roadmap for public administration and a roadmap for democratic institutions. In the rule of law roadmap, there is an action plan for minorities, Osmani explains.

In his words, only this issue can be said to be part of the relations with Bulgaria and is "a criterion for which there will be a written report and a vote, and could possibly be some kind of obstacle".

Osmani notes that none of these criteria and roadmaps in the special part of the negotiating framework refer or link to the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation between Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia, nor does it refer to the issue of the work of the Joint Historical Issues Commission or Article 12, which establishes the joint commission.

Osmani clarified that this treaty is in the general part of the negotiating framework, for which the European Commission does not prepare a report and the member states do not vote.

Which does not mean that North Macedonia will not implement the Treaty and the Article 12 reviews, because they have been signed, commitments have been made, but in no way will there be a written report on them, nor will there be a vote, nor can it be the basis for a new obstacle on the country's path to the EU, Osmani says in the video.