The new Bulgarian prime minister, Kiril Petkov, stated that the new Bulgarian government will propose a “very fast” new procedure, which will help Sofia lift its veto power and open up neighboring North Macedonia’s accession to the European Union. negotiation. Financial TimesThe announcement was welcomed by Skopje.
“We will propose a new process [on North Macedonia], Very fast, time is limited, only six months,” Petkov said Quote from the British “Financial Times”.
As a sign of relaxation between the two Balkan neighbors, the Acting Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zayev has talked with Petkov and found common ground.
“We agree to continue to work hard to find acceptable solutions to remove the obstacles to the negotiation process for North Macedonia’s accession to the European Union and provide new positive impetus to strengthen the bilateral relations between our two countries,” Zayev wrote on Facebook road.
Petkov was sworn in as prime minister on Monday (December 13). After the first cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Petkov told reporters in Sofia that the two prime ministers had agreed to set up a working group to deal with economic, cultural, infrastructure and common historical issues.
Petkov said: “We will develop an action plan for these working groups in early January to achieve real results and advance negotiations.”
An unnamed North Macedonian source confirmed to EURACTIV
The wind of change is being felt.
“We think the new government (Bulgaria) is open to constructive dialogue,” the source said.
North Macedonia became a candidate for an EU member state in December 2005, but negotiations have not yet begun.
The new government marks the end of the political crisis
The inauguration of the Petkov cabinet ended a political crisis, and two consecutive general elections in April and July failed to elect a cabinet.
Petkov’s government is composed of four parties-his centrist “Continue to Change”, the center-left Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the center-right “Democratic Bulgaria” and the anti-system “there are such people.” They have a total of 146 representatives in the 240-seat parliament.
However, according to information obtained by EURACTIV Bulgaria, the “very rapid process” planned with Skopje has not yet been coordinated with President Rumen Radev, who will represent Bulgaria at the EU summit on December 16.
According to reports, the summit is aspiring to solve the problem with Bulgaria’s veto, but Radev does not intend to make concessions before Skopje answers Sofia’s concerns.
According to information obtained by EURACTIV, the president was caught off guard by Petkov’s strategy, even though the two have been very close during the months of the political crisis.
A source familiar with the situation said that Radev is not keen on resolving the veto issue within a limited time frame. The risk is that Skopje can only wait for time to pass instead of addressing Bulgaria’s concerns.
Among the various conditions for lifting the veto, Petkov mentioned only one in the interview. He said that in Macedonian history textbooks, Bulgaria should not be called “fascism”, referring to the current description of the Bulgarian army that occupied northern Macedonia today during World War II.
Bulgaria’s position is that North Macedonia “must show European maturity and respect for EU values”, take concrete actions to end the hate speech against Bulgaria in historical textbooks, national and scientific institutions, and public media, and stop the misappropriation or manipulation of Bulgarian culture and culture. Historical heritage. A particular concern is the rights of Macedonian citizens who publicly express their Bulgarian identity.
Skopje’s strategy has always been to rely on Western pressure on Bulgaria to lift the veto power, without addressing Sophia’s concerns.
Alliance talks insights
During the four-party joint negotiations, no deadline was agreed upon to cancel the veto on Skopje. The two sides agreed to maintain a “unified Bulgarian position” towards North Macedonia, but promised to adopt a constructive attitude.
“What we want to see is not a verbal change, but a change in action. We really hope (with North Macedonia) to achieve results to show that the work has begun,” Petkov said during the alliance talks with “continued change.” The identity of the co-chairman said that these talks were broadcast live on the Internet.
He emphasized the strengthening of commercial relations and the development of infrastructure between the two countries. He said that the future government will work hard to establish a direct route between Sofia and Skopje, build the Pan-European 8 Corridor connection and promote economic dialogue. This is largely in line with what he told EURACTIV in an exclusive interview before.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
