Bulgaria appears unwilling to lift its veto on North Macedonia’s EU accession talks. Bulgarian Vice President Iliana Iotova stated that authorities in Skopje continue to violate the rights of Bulgarians in the country.
“Bulgaria is not imposing any additional conditions on North Macedonia’s EU accession process. We remain convinced that the rights of Bulgarians in North Macedonia are not being respected. We simply want European criteria to be upheld, just as every other country on the path to EU membership has had to respect them,” said Iotova.
Bulgaria also rejected the Slovenian-German proposal to eliminate unanimity in decision-making on EU enlargement matters.
EU Commissioner Marta Kos expressed optimism, saying that Bulgaria and North Macedonia will eventually reach an agreement to protect the Bulgarian minority. According to her, Albania and Montenegro could become full EU members within the current European Commission’s mandate, which ends in 2029.
“This Monday, we opened a new cluster of chapters with Albania. More clusters will be opened during the Polish presidency. If they maintain the current pace of reforms, we could finalize negotiations with Montenegro by 2026 and with Albania by 2027. Both countries could become full EU members before the end of this Commission’s term in 2029. I hope other countries in the region are encouraged by their progress,” said Commissioner Kos.
Kos also warned that the European Union is facing external forces that seek to undermine the enlargement process.
Klan News