The air between Bulgaria and North Macedonia about North Macedonia’s accession to the European Union seems to be cleared. There is talk about resolving mutual political and cultural differences. This is the reason for the European Commission to renew talks with Bulgaria about the acceptance of North Macedonia as a future member of the European Union.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said this during a visit to the North Macedonian capital Skopje. He spoke there with President Stevo Pendarovski and Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski, among others.
North Macedonia has been a candidate for membership since 2005.
According to Borrell, the atmosphere between the two Balkan countries has improved. “Inter-conflicts should no longer stand in the way of the accession process,” he said. “We will keep talking until all obstacles are cleared.”
North Macedonia has not yet reached a rapid accession. The process is now at the stage where accession negotiations can begin. Neighboring Bulgaria has long objected to this, but there seems to be a change in Sofia’s position.
Under the previous Prime Minister Borissov, Bulgaria did not recognize Macedonian as a language, calling it a Bulgarian dialect. It also did not recognize the ethnic Macedonians in the border region as a separate population group.
Steps taken
Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev said last month that he supports North Macedonia’s desire to become an EU member as soon as possible. New governments have recently taken office in both countries. Steps have been taken towards cooperation in the economic and tourism field and politically, too, the air seems to have cleared up. “Bulgaria is the country that most supports your entry into the European family,” Radev said at a meeting of organizations of Bulgarian residents of North Macedonia.
Radev also wants the political disputes to be resolved and for history education to pay attention to the common ancestors. because in his view that determines the relations between the two countries. Bulgaria has for a long time not recognized the Macedonian minority in the border region with the neighboring country.
Westersgezind
Bulgaria went to the polls three times last year for parliamentary elections, each time failing to form a new government. After the November elections, Kiril Petkov, of the new ‘We will continue with the change’ party, succeeded Boyko Borissov as prime minister. Borissov, 62, had been in power for 12 years, a time when corruption and favoritism seemed to take precedence over a healthy economy and resolving political disputes. A course that Petkov wants to change radically.
Petkov (41) is twenty years younger, a Harvard graduate and is Western-minded. When he took office in December, he said he no longer wanted to block North Macedonia’s accession to the EU. He would therefore enter into talks with conservative forces in Bulgaria and with North Macedonia itself, in order to resolve cultural differences.
Greece used to be a problem for a long time, because of the name Macedonia. The northernmost province of Greece is also called that. The former Yugoslav republic then changed its name to North Macedonia in 2019.
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