Bulgaria will open the door to Macedonia only with guarantees and protection of our national interest. If we manage to make such a decision, it will be a historic act, said Bulgarian President Rumen Radev.

Bulgaria has strengthened its veto on Macedonia’s negotiations with the EU. President Rumen Radev from Skopje demands a change in the Constitution, and guarantees from Brussels for fulfillment of the Good Neighbor Agreement in the negotiating framework. Yesterday, after the participation of the European Council, Radev proposed that the Bulgarian Parliament initiate a dialogue with the Macedonian Parliament, and announced that he would convene the National Security Advisory Council to discuss Bulgaria’s attitude towards Macedonia and seek consensus with all political parties in Parliament. 

I hope that the government is still working on a full analysis of the reasons why we came to the inability to say “yes” to Macedonia. I propose that the Bulgarian Parliament initiate a dialogue with the Macedonian Parliament so that we can seek the best solutions and open the door as soon as possible, Radev said.

He added that he also talked about this with the new Prime Minister Kiril Petkov.

Bulgaria will open the door to Macedonia only with guarantees and protection of our national interest. If we manage to make such a decision, it will be a historic act, but let us not forget that this process is entirely in the hands of the candidate country, Radev said.