Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani criticized the announcement from Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, that there will be six months of negotiations before Bulgaria can decide whether it will allow Macedonia to open EU accession talks. The European Council yesterday could not agree to open accession talks with Macedonia and Albania due to the Bulgarian veto.

It was a difficult debate and the Council and the compromise was that the request remains open. For the first time, Bulgaria could not find fault in Macedonia. Bulgaria has the right to veto. Regarding the statement from the new Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, his timeframe is objectionable. Six months are too long time in the context the region is in, with so many open questions. I don’t think that timeframe fits us. We need to sit down with Petkov and discus what the timeframe means. There is no need to hold the entire region hostage, Osmani said.