Macedonian Prime Minister Christian Mitkoski said he has no communication with the new Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, but would be happy to talk to him. Mitkoski added that bilateral issues cannot be part of the negotiation process between North Macedonia and the EU.
"I am ready to talk and I will travel and I will sit at the table and talk as much as necessary with everybody just to find a solution. I have no communication with the new prime minister of the eastern neighbour, but I would love to meet him and I would love to sit down and talk and see what the possibilities are. My only message at the meeting will be that if the agreements are valid and should be respected for us, they should be valid and respected for them and that bilateral issues should not be part of the negotiation process," the Macedonian prime minister said in an interview with MRT.
He said his founding goal was to unblock Skopje's European integration and stressed that the previous government was to blame for the country's current situation.
"The question is how to get to the goal and how to unblock this process in a dignified way, which was blocked because of the adventurous policy of the previous government, which thought that everything would be forgiven abroad if they signed everything that was put on the table, while at home they would be able to rob the citizens and destroy the country", the prime minister said, referring to the French agreement, which was adopted by the Macedonian parliament in 2022. The agreement sets as a condition for the start of negotiations between Skopje and the EU the inclusion of Bulgarians in the Macedonian constitution.
"I am aware of what Bujar Osmani did as foreign minister and Dimitar Kovacevski as prime minister. It is clear to me that this is a problem and that it will always be on the table as a condition. However, if this condition applies to us, then all the other conditions must also apply, that is to say, the agreements that were adopted before, such as the Resolution on respect for human rights, such as the Neighbourhood Agreement. All this should be an obligation for all parties," Mickoski stressed.
"Now we have a Sisyphean task to overcome all this and if we can control it because our eastern neighbour is in the European family and we are on the outside and we want to enter this family. With all this ambition, we have chosen a strategy to present our positions as strongly and clearly as possible and to make friends, build friendships and find allies in order to find a dignified solution, which I am optimistic about. We continue to build friendships, to seek allies and to be as clear and vocal as possible in this process and I believe that if we have genuine and objective European "merit-based" criteria, which are based on achievements and not on bilateral issues, then, after two decades, Macedonia's accession process will be unblocked," the prime minister said. | BGNES
