In a few months, Bulgaria will lift its veto and North Macedonia will begin the EU membership negotiation process, said Vlado Buchkovski, the special envoy for resolving the Skopje-Sofia dispute of North Macedonia’s government.
“Bulgaria did not have a regular government for eight months last year. There were three parliamentary and one presidential elections. This seriously affected our efforts to find a mutually acceptable solution and lift the blockade on our path to the EU,” Buchkovski said, quoted by the Macedonian site “Local” and BGNES.
According to him, there is progress in building trust between the two countries. Two weeks ago, new Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov announced a six-month deadline to resolve Sofia’s disputes with Skopje. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev quickly announced afterwards that Bulgaria was not setting deadlines, but wanted to see progress from North Macedonia.
In an exclusive interview for EURACTIV, President Radev said Sofia was pushing for a change in the Macedonian constitution so that Macedonian Bulgarians could receive equal treatment in the country. “The situation will be clearer after the meeting of the new Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski with his Bulgarian counterpart Kiril Petkov, which is scheduled for mid-January,” Buckovski added.
“In 2022, I expect to reach a mutually acceptable solution with Bulgaria. A solution that will be based on mutual respect and will be sustainable. The Bulgarian blockade will be lifted. The start of negotiations with the EU will finally be a reality,” Buchkovski added.
Regarding disputes over common history and Bulgaria’s insistence on changing textbooks in northern Macedonia, Buckovski says this is the task of the joint historical commission. Buchkovski “believes the Macedonians have drawn their conclusions from the constitutional name dispute with Greece”.
