site.btaPM Says There Is No Reason for Bulgaria to Step Back from Position on Skopje's EU Accession

Bulgarian Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev said here Wednesday that there is no reason to step back from his country's position on the EU accession of the Republic of North Macedonia. He was speaking as the government was holding its weekly meeting and before departing for Brussels for a EU-Western Balkans Summit later in the day.

"There is no change in our position, it is principled, it is agreed with the so-called compromise of 2022. We have made the compromise, only it has been signed by all member states, including the Republic of North Macedonia and us", Dimitar Glavchev said. "I don't see any reason to make any concessions to North Macedonia from the current Bulgarian position".

The PM highlighted that it is not right for a EU candidate country to set conditions to countries that are already EU member states. He explained that usually when someone wants to join somewhere, they follow the rules that have been established there, rather than demanding that the rules be adjusted for the one applying. "This would be an absolute precedent and contrary to the principles of the EU and the principles of human rights, of minorities. Because the smallest obstacle to the Republic of North Macedonia is the 2022 compromise, if that can be an obstacle at all", Glavchev added, reiterating that North Macedonia continues to fail to meet other requirements.

Bulgaria expects to see the Republic of North Macedonia amend its Constitution to include Bulgarians in it, before it greenlights the start of accession talks, and this was set down as a pre-condition by the EU and accepted by Skopje. Skopje stepped back as the government changed and the new government maintains that constitutional amendments recognizing a Bulgarian minority will not proceed without prior guarantees from Bulgaria to prevent future vetoes.