site.btaOsmani: “Protocols with Bulgaria Not Part of Negotiating Framework with EU”

It is not important whether Bulgaria will have new demands to North Macedonia in future because "the negotiating framework [on the country's EU accession] is the wall against any Bulgarian demands and the protocols between the two countries are not part of it," North Macedonia’s Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani told a news conference here on Monday.

Asked for comment on a statement by Bulgarian Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel that the conditions that Sofia sets to Skopje for unblocking the launch of accession negotiations are not only constitutional amendments but also observance of the bilateral Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation and the two protocols under it, Osmani said that the final text of a document adopted at the EU summit in Brussels omitted a conclusion in the proposal for conclusions that said that, in addition to the Treaty of Prespa with Greece, North Macedonia must also implement the protocols to the Treaty with Bulgaria.

"That was the best example of how a new Bulgarian demand, which we consider to be not part of the negotiating framework, cannot break through the wall that this framework is. We had a case in point, and I can show you both versions of the document: the proposal and the conclusion as finally voted through, which does not mention the protocols. This will be the future of our relations with Bulgaria. The negotiating framework provisions alone will go through, and the criteria for opening and closing negotiation chapters with the EU will not include questions related to identity and historical issues," Osmani pointed out at a joint news conference with his Albanian counterpart Igli Hasani before a meeting of the US-Adriatic Charter Partnership Commission.

Osmani said he did not want to open this debate between Skopje and Sofia in the run-up to North Macedonia’s elections so that "political factors" would not abuse it.

Asked whether his country risks forfeiting funding under the EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans unless it amends its Constitution, the Foreign Minister explained that disbursement of the rest of the money will require a decision of the European Commission on whether the requisite reforms have been carried out and the EU Member States will not have a say on the matter, which will prevent Bulgaria from using its clout.

"We must carry out the reforms, but the constitutional amendments are a far greater obstacle. I am afraid of a repeat of Bucharest 2008. We were then together with Albania and Croatia, we had a better offer for the name [of the country] than the one we got in 2018, and we turned it down because we lacked courage. We lost 15 years because of the same actors. Albania and Croatia joined NATO back then, we lost 500,000 citizens who left the country for lack of prospects, and we finally solved the problem. The same thing can happen now for lack of courage or because of this wave of dark nationalist forces which want to hijack citizens’ future," Osmani said regarding the failure to amend the country’s Constitution, which is a condition for opening the negotiation chapters with the EU. He cited the latest projections of North Macedonia’s State Statistical Office, according to which the country’s population may shrink to 1,300,000 in several years’ time if the current emigration trend persists.

"These are existential issues for the people, and addressing these issues is hostage to the opposition at this point in time," Osmani said.