site.btaSkopje to Amend Its Constitution When Sure Bulgaria Won't Veto Start of EU Accession Talks - EU Affairs Minister Murtezani

"Serious work is under way to overcome the problem with our European integration, and constitutional amendments will take place when we are sure that we will not have a potential veto from Bulgaria [on the start of EU accession talks with Skopje] and when we find a solution that will guarantee the completion of this process," North Macedonia's Minister of European Affairs and Chief EU Negotiator, Orhan Murtezani, said here on Thursday, quoted by MIA.

He added that the Government in Skopje is not only working declaratively, but is working seriously to overcome the problem. "It is not important how many months this will last. When we are sure that we will not have a potential veto from Bulgaria, then the constitutional amendments will come before you in parliament and it will only be a technical issue to secure 80 votes," Murtezani said.

He stressed that the new government is not blocking the country's European path, as the opposition claims.

"It is as if you have opened all the chapters and now we are sabotaging the process, but this is not true. There is only a difference in the approach that we have compared to what has been done before," Murtezani addressed the previous government.

He added that the current government is working on finding a solution and, in his words, this has been communicated to all European and American representatives who have visited the Republic of North Macedonia. 

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.