site.btaMickoski Expects Meetings at Various Levels with Bulgarian Government; Prefers Topics that Bring Two Neighbours Closer

Hristijan Mickoski, the Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, Thursday said he expects to hold meetings with representatives of the Bulgarian government to build goodneighbourly relations. However, regarding the country's EU integration, he does not intend to change his position. Speaking to reporters after a meeting at the Members of Parliament Club in Skopje, Mickoski was asked once again if contact had already been established with the Bulgarian government and if a meeting was expected.

"We have already held meetings with the highest Bulgarian leadership, with the then caretaker prime minister. I expect that in the coming period, we will hold meetings at various levels with the Bulgarian government. It is normal to engage in dialogue and build relations with neighbours. This should not surprise anyone because neither we are going to disappear, nor they are. We will stay neighbours. But this does not mean that we agree on some of the issues that divide us. That is why I am in favour of discussing topics which bring us closer together," Mickoski said.

He reiterated that his position, as well as that of the coalition partners in North Macedonia's government, is "clear and unchanging" - that "the state and the people have done more than anyone else for EU integration over the past two and a half decades".

"I believe that the negotiation process should be based on objective conditions rather than on bilateral ones. I will say this at my meetings from Washington to Brussels, London, Rome, Paris, Berlin, Sofia, Athens - anywhere in the world. Because I believe in this, because we have done enough, more than anyone else has, in the name of this European future. [North] Macedonia has made so many concessions that it deserves, after two decades, to at least begin the process [of EU integration]," Mickoski said. He added that he wants to discuss the entire EU integration process, through to its conclusion, not just its beginning.

"When I have such a counterpart, they are welcome to come and talk. Otherwise, we will work to resolve our problems ourselves," Mickoski said.

The journalist's question was prompted by a statement by North Macedonia's Minister for European Affairs, Orhan Murtezani, who is visiting Brussels. He said that the Bulgarian representative in the EU enlargement working group had told him the Bulgarian side was ready for talks and was sending positive signals towards establishing dialogue.

"I believe a good environment is being created and we should use it not just to establish dialogue - which should exist between neighbouring countries in order to build goodneighbourly relations - but also as an opportunity to reach a mutually acceptable solution that will finally take us into the EU," Murtezani told the MIA news agency.

During the series of parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, Hristijan Mickoski said repeatedly he was waiting for the formation of a political government in Sofia to discuss Skopje's proposal that constitutional changes should take effect not before the start of EU accession negotiations but after their conclusion.