Bulgarian member of the European Parliament Ilhan Kyuchyuk warned Macedonia that it will fall behind Albania in its EU accession if it doesn’t approve the Bulgarian demands for constitutional amendments.

Without amending the Constitution, Macedonia really can’t begin negotiations with the EU, Kyuchyuk told a Bulgarian news outlet in an interview.

The amendments should be adopted by this autumn, or Albania would be allowed to begin its EU accession talks, while Macedonia is left stuck. Kyuchyuk also stated geopolitical arguments for this push, saying that the possible advancement of Ukraine and other countries from the outer EU neighborhood ahead of Macedonia would leave the country in a group with Kosovo, Bosnia and Serbia.