English
Macedonia is not looking to avoid vetoes from EU member states, but if they come, they should be based on the Copenhagen criteria and not on issues of identity, said President Gordana Siljanovska – Davkova during a lecture at the Law Faculty in Ljubljana, where she’s attending for an official visit to Slovenia. The President focused on the dispute over historic and national issues with Bulgaria, that Bulgarian authorities are using to block Macedonia from opening its EU accession talks.
Regarding the current Bulgarian demand that Macedonia must put the Bulgarian minority in its Constitution, President Siljanovska said: “We should note that Bulgaria in its Constitution does not have a separate clause that guarantees minority rights. There is also a large number of verdicts by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg regarding certain rights of the Macedonians in Bulgaria that are not respected. As a country, we have far greater minority rights protections that many EU member states, said President Siljanovska.
To resolve the issue, the President said that the EU could get creative, and use the clause that one third of EU member states can ask that an EU country is stripped of its right to vote on an issue if it is found to violate the princples of the Union.