North Macedonia's European Affairs Minister Orhan Murtezani has excused his country's stalled European Union integration process with Bulgaria and asked for "calmer ground for establishing dialogue" with the next Bulgarian regular government, BGNES reported.
He admitted that the so-called "French plus proposal" for constitutional changes with a delayed effect does not meet support in Brussels. Murtezani and Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski held meetings with European Council President Charles Michel.
"The issue (at the meetings) was our government's proposal for constitutional changes with deferred effect. Frankly, not that there is any great hope from the institutions in Brussels that such a proposal will pass, but it is not being rejected en bloc. There is a certain amount of optimism that we will have to flesh out. The Government have a good basis when they say that the logic in constitutional changes should be similar to that which was done when we joined NATO after the name change. That is, in the stages of changing the constitution, there should be one additional amendment that says that the content will materialise, will come into force, after Bulgaria ratifies the agreement for the country to join the European Union," Murtezani said in an interview with state television.
The minister claims that the new Macedonian government has already entered "real politics", using the constitutional name of the state, the Republic of North Macedonia.
On the statement by Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski, who called Bulgarians " wretched", Murtezani said:
"This is not an investment in a future dialogue and so we are helping their electoral race. We are not the citizens' problem in Bulgaria. We think that such an approach is harmful, given that Bulgaria is blocking us. Our approach has to be careful, because with a possible tightening of the rhetoric we can close those doors that we think can open after the elections (in Bulgaria)."
Asked what the VMRO-DPMNE and Vrede government has achieved in the first 100 days for one of the three key pillars it identified - accelerated European integration, Murtezani said:
"Our initial intention was to shorten the timeframe, firstly to consider it an absolute priority and secondly, in the first six months we will do all internal and external consultations with our strategic partners to create additional momentum. There have been such efforts within the coalition and in our meetings with senior representatives of the institutions in Brussels and beyond. So far, I cannot say that we have a concrete plan that will succeed, but we are working on certain guidelines that give hope and should be concretised and materialised once our neighbour Bulgaria has a stable regular government."
The European Affairs Minister stressed that the separation of Albania from North Macedonia on the way to the EU will have an impact.
"It could lead, firstly, to an increase in Euroscepticism, which we see growing all the time, not only in the Western Balkan countries, but also in Europe. Secondly, among some of our citizens, the feeling that no matter what we do, no matter what compromises we make, we will not be able to become part of the European Union may become concrete. However, the separation of Albania from Macedonia is a clear message that enlargement is alive and is happening. This should encourage us to work even harder to find solutions to seize the moment. Just to share, unofficially, Montenegro has already agreed on a timeframe by which the negotiations will be completed - it is 2026, Albania has an optimistic timeframe of 2027.
Orhan Murtezani dismissed any link between the constitutional changes and the upcoming local elections in North Macedonia, due to be held next year.
"I think the logic of mixing local elections with the strategic direction of the country is wrong. The strategic orientation of the country requires us to work constantly, especially when we are given the opportunity to move forward quickly. And this opportunity is now being confirmed with Albania, Ukraine and Moldova. This is a chance that we must seize," the Macedonian minister explained. | BGNES
