CDU Bundestag member Gunther Krichbaum, who chairs the EU committee, told Deutsche Welle that the Bulgarian veto of Macedonia’s EU accession talks is very dangerous.

Unfortunately, it has become a bad habit that bilateral disputes are turned into EU disputes in the course of accession talks. We saw that with Croatia and the dispute over the Bay of Piran, or in Serbia, where Croatia is raising issues. I told very clearly to our Bulgarian friends that this is very dangerous, Krichbaum said.

Germany made efforts to mediate between Macedonia and Bulgaria in the course of its rotating presidency with the European Union, but some Bulgarian politicians took this as all the more reason to dig in. Krichbaum calls on Macedonia not to give up on the accession process, despite the difficulties it keeps facing.