site.btaUPDATED Vazrazhdane Leader: North Macedonia's EU Accession Should Be Vetoed

A veto should be imposed on the accession of North Macedonia to the European Union, Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov told journalists in Parliament on Tuesday.  

He said that his party warned last year that if the veto on the country's EU accession is lifted, irresponsibly, under foreign pressure, serious problems will occur, and according to him, unfortunately, that is exactly what is going on right now. 

Kostadinov commented on North Macedonia President Stevo Pendarovski's proposal to his country's government to ban the entry into the country of a Bulgarian member of the European Parliament and an unspecified number of other Bulgarian citizens, who may seek to visit for the upcoming 151st birth anniversary of revolutionary Gotse Delchev. He said that  Pendarovski was nominated by the party that is now "the main driver of the anti-Bulgarian processes" in North Macedonia. According to him, North Macedonia has always shown that when it marches into a line of confrontation with Bulgaria, it is ready to go all the way. The big question is how far Bulgaria can go, he added.

Bulgaria and North Macedonia are allies in NATO, meaning that the two countries are military allies, Kostadinov said. On the basis of exactly what decision Bulgaria's military ally (North Macedonia) will impose a possible decision to ban the visit of Bulgarian MEPs, MPs, representatives of any political formations, is this allied behaviour, when are we going to raise the issue with the NATO Council of Foreign Ministers, these are unfriendly actions, he asked. 

Asked whether they would go to the celebrations of Gotse Delchev's birth anniversary on February 4 in Skopje, the leader of Vazrazhdane said that it was possible they would go because they always went when they had the time. Now the situation is a bit different, Bulgaria is waiting any moment for the National Assembly to be dissolved, elections are coming, among other things, it is possible that Vazrazhdane will not be able to go, Kostadinov said.