site.btaSofia Reminds Skopje that EU Integration Is Based on Own Merits

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry on Friday urged North Macedonia to adhere to the commitments it has assumed on the path to EU membership. The ministry objected to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's plan to mediate between Sofia and Skopje to iron out their differences which are keeping North Macedonia from starting EU accession negotiations. Hungary is the current holder of the EU Council Presidency.

In an interview for North Macedonia's Kanal 5 television on October 3, the country's Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski argued that the negotiating framework, which states that Bulgarians in the country must be included in the Constitution as a condition for the start of North Macedonia's negotiations with the EU, is not a treaty, and that the Treaty of Friendship and Good Neighborliness and Cooperation with Bulgaria does not state that the Constitution must be changed. Mickoski said he is still waiting for someone to give him a reason why Bulgarians in North Macedonia should be included in the Constitution. He insisted that the Bulgarian minority in his country has all possible rights.

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said in its reaction: "Skopje has declared that acceding to the European family of values and rights is its main foreign policy priority. This presupposes strict adherence to the well-known commitments that have been assumed. The process of European integration is based on the countries' own merits and rules out mediation between the EU and a candidate country. The only guarantee of success is to meet the established criteria and conditions."