The National Assembly Press Centre confirmed to BTA on Friday that the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee has received the French proposal for lifting Sofia's veto on the start of Skopje's negotiations.
According to preliminary information, the proposal will be circulated to all EU Member States. Off the record, it provides for unblocking the launch of the talks in exchange for the EU guaranteeing that the Republic of North Macedonia will meet the conditions set by Bulgaria.
Sofia has been blocking the launch of the Brussels-Skopje negotiating process since November 2020, insisting that North Macedonia should first address the sticking points in bilateral relations: make progress in observing its 2017 bilateral treaty with Bulgaria, abandon hate speech against Bulgaria, and amend its Constitution to include the Bulgarians living on its territory so as to grant them equal rights with the other "state-establishing" peoples.
Speaking on the Bulgarian National Television on Friday evening, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said that the proposal states that North Macedonia won't start EU accession talks before it changes its constitution to include Bulgarians among peoples who represent the state. "I, as Prime Minister, won't make a single-handed decision on the issue of North Macedonia, and I will do what the Bulgarian Parliament decides."
He said that next week there will be a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels to discuss North Macedonia's EU membership. If Parliament does not decide until then, Petkov will tell fellow EU leaders that he had vowed that the decision will be made by Parliament.
According to a decision that the Bulgarian Council of Ministers adopted on Wednesday, all proposals concerning the Republic of North Macedonia will be submitted to Parliament for approval.
Earlier in the day, Bulgarian National Radio reported that French Ambassador to Bulgaria Florence Robine conferred on Thursday with MPs of the Bulgaria-France Friendship Group. At the meeting they discussed the document, as well as whether the powerholders would have the majority needed for its adoption.
Democratic Bulgaria Co-leader Hristo Ivanov said in Parliament later that it would be a success for Bulgaria if Skopje agrees to accept Bulgaria's conditions and the EU becomes the guarantor for their fulfillment.
A week ago, the issue with the Bulgarian veto prompted the There Is Such a People (TISP) Party to leave the ruling coalition and TISP leader Slavi Trifonov to describe Prime Minister Kiril Petkov's actions as "treason".
On Friday afternoon, Foreign Policy Committee Deputy Chair Angel Georgiev MP of Vazrazhdane told BTA that he had seen "certain utmostly worrying things" in the three-page English-language document, such as "talk about minorities and communities in North Macedonia" in "worded rather flexibly and, at the same time, elusively that can be interpreted in different ways." Besides this, the proposal "mentions citizens who live within the State and who are part of other nations, such as, for example, the Bulgarians, i.e. the Macedonian side could interpret it in the sense that Bulgarians and Macedonians belong to different nationalities, which we find absolutely unacceptable and which is at variance with the reality of history," Georgiev added. In his word, agreeing to something of the kind would constitute a criminal offence.
The MP is convinced that the Foreign Policy Committee will reject the document and if it is put to the vote in the full house, he hopes that it will be defeated. "North Macedonia must wait as long as it takes, but it must carry out genuine reforms and enter the EU only after that," Georgiev argued.
He said that after the receipt of the French proposal, Vazrazhdane had decided to organize a protest against lifting the veto in front of the National Assembly at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
Bulgarian Vice President Iliana Iotova told BTA that, according to preliminary information she has about the French proposal, it will require concessions from North Macedonia. "I don't have information yet on how far and in what way our Western neighour has accepted these concessions," she added.
Iotova noted that comment should be withheld until the final version is made available at the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) meeting.
"Bulgaria is placed in a very delicate and difficult situation. Any superfluous word could stand in the way in either direction," the Vice President believes.
/MY/
news.modal.text
Nothing available