English
At today’s meeting with the President of the European Commission, Prime Minister Mickoski once again called for the EU to get involved in negotiations regarding the bilateral dispute with Bulgaria. Von der Leyen sidestepped this issue and announced a meeting between the foreign ministers of Macedonia and Bulgaria in Sofia next week.
“Our desire is for these issues to be resolved through dialogue, in good faith, and with mutual respect. We also discussed—and I emphasized—that we expect the EU to be involved in this process; we are not asking the Union to take sides. We are asking it to help create conditions for a sustainable European solution where agreements are clear, obligations apply to everyone, and the accession process is not reopened to new bilateral conditionalities. Any solution must ensure that its implementation concludes one phase and paves the way for the next, leaving no room for new interpretations or additional demands,” said Mickoski. The EU representative stated that she had advocated for frequent meetings between the two sides to build trust. “I can confirm what the Prime Minister said: we agreed to take a first step next week and try to unblock the process—and actually turn it into a genuine process; that is the most important part.” “What will happen next week is a revision of that entire accession process,” she said.
The Macedonian side called for EU involvement in these talks, as a trust building measure.