The opening of Macedonia’s accession negotiations will either be a joint success or a joint failure for Brussels, Sofia and Skopje, Deputy PM for European Affairs Nikola Dimitrov said Friday in an interview with TV Kanal 5.

He said that it is very important what kind of message the EU will send to the whole region.

What kind of message is sent to the whole Balkans if in March there is a decision for negotiations, and nothing happens until December. Trust in the EU will further weaken. That’s not a good message for our neighbors. If we look at all the reports, it is a fact that we, with all our flaws, in the eyes of the EU have hope that we will succeed, that we will reform and become a European country. That is not how they see it in many member states, Dimitrov said.

He stressed that Bulgaria itself had invested efforts in that, especially when it held the EU presidency, which is confirmed in many speeches of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva when they convinced other members that our country  should be given the green light to start EU talks.

Dimitrov says that Germany is working intensively to find a solution and Macedonia to start EU accession negotiations during the German presidency.

We need to find European solutions, we must move forward to EU with European solutions. This is not the last COREPER, we will see what happens in the coming days. Macedonia is fully committed to European integration and the Friendship Agreement, Dimitrov added.