site.btaGovernment Coalition Reaffirms It Aims for Broad Concensus on Skopje’s EU Accession Talks

The government coalition considers it of topmost importance to have broad consensus on the start of EU accession talks with Skopje, which is why it reconfirmed its promise to make sure the matter goes through Parliament, the head of the Prime Minister’s political cabinet, Lena Borislavova, said after a meeting of the coalition partners just before midnight on Friday. “Until then, we will leave the diplomats in the Foreign Ministry to continue their work. They are working hard and trying to make sure the Bulgarian interests are protected,” she added.

The meeting took place after the call of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov for President Rumen Radev to convene the Consultative Council on National Security on Skopje. The President has not said whether he would do that.

Bulgaria has consistently refused to give a green light to the start of EU accession talks with North Macedonia before it take measures to address sticking points in bilateral relations: end hate speech against Bulgaria, eliminate distortions of the shared history in school books and elsewhere and provide guarantees that the rights of Bulgarians in North Macedonia are protected by addition them to its Constitutions along with other communities that are expressly mentioned there.

Bulgaria has come under strong pressure from the EU to lift its veto.

Borislavova told reporters after the coalition council that the partners had “constructive dialogue” on the matter which is extremely important for the Bulgarian society”.

Asked whether the matter was discussed between the President and the Prime Minister, Borislavova said that “no such discussion has taken place but the two are in dialogue”.

She said that “it won’t be the government that will betray the Bulgarian national interest”.

Asked about a possible time frame for taking the matter to Parliament, Borislavova said that a proposal will be made to the legislature “as soon as we have a decision and a report by the Foreign Ministry that reports a progress”. “We are not there yet," she added.

Asked to comment the suggestion of Atanas Atanassov, the co-leader of the power-sharing Democratic Bulgaria, that Ukraine and North Macedonia could be paired up on their way to the EU, Borislavova said that the Prime Minister had declared support for Ukraine during his visit to Kyiv and that the government is in favour of having a "stronger, more united" Europe.

On his way out of the meeting of the coalition partners, MP Stanislav Balabanov (There is Such a People) said that it discussed "pressing issues" regarding both North Macedonia and updating the budget. All coalition partners reaffirmed their position on Skopje. “We agreed, it seemed, that it was indeed one track that Bulgaria has to follow regarding this matter,” he said.