Following the publication of the Bulgarian framework position on the Macedonian EU accession, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said yesterday that he remains certain Bulgaria will not block the opening of accession talks next week.
The framework position includes strict new conditions which Bulgaria plans to introduce in the course of the accession talks, and Macedonia will go forward, or not, depending on their implementation.
The Bulgarian and the Macedonian people are friendly peoples. We politicians need to serve them. I believe that Bulgaria will give its support for us to receive a date to open EU accession talks. It is such a long awaited decision, we waited for 15 years. That is also an obligation from the treaty we have, and both sides need to make sure they uphold it. I’m so happy we concluded a treaty of friendship, good-neighborliness and cooperation, Zaev said during the celebration of the 1941 uprising against Bulgarian rule in Macedonia – a holiday which sparks particularly adverse reactions in Bulgaria.
Regarding the points where Bulgaria demands further concessions with the Macedonian identity, such as an end to the use of the term “Macedonian language”, Zaev said that “identity is not an issue that is negotiable in the 21st century”.
The identity is a feeling. They accept that and I bow to Prime Minister Borisov who is a European politician and who spoke about a Macedonian people, both in Sofia and here during our press conferences because honestly in the 21st century we can’t allow the perception of limiting identity issues. We are of course eager to resolve the issues as soon as possible and we have their declared expectations which I believe are that the treaties need to be implemented but there mustn’t be obstacles in that regard, Zaev continued. Zaev also pointed out that the Macedonian language is named as such in the United Nations and elsewhere. Bulgaria insists that the Macedonian is just a dialect of the Bulgarian language.
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