The Bulgarian Parliament voted on Friday 24 June to lift its country’s veto on the opening of accession negotiations with North Macedonia to the EU, with 170 votes in favour, 37 against and 21 abstentions. It was voting on a French compromise proposal.
Under the compromise, North Macedonia must, among other things, commit to amending its constitution to include Bulgarians as a recognised ethnic group and to “implementing” a 2017 friendship treaty aimed at eradicating hate speech.
The text approved by the Parliament states that “nothing in the EU accession process shall be interpreted as a recognition by Bulgaria of the Macedonian language”.
The decision should be quickly endorsed by the Bulgarian government, which was overthrown on Wednesday. On Thursday, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said he was ready to act quickly. After the vote, he called on his Macedonian counterpart, Dimitar Kovačevski, to accept the compromise. “If I was him, on his side, I would not even think twice. If he can go in history by opening the door for North Macedonia into the EU, I think it’s a good … achievement for a prime minister. But it takes guts”, Petkov explained in an interview with Politico.
At the end of the European Council, French President Emmanuel Macron said that technical work and contacts would continue “in the coming hours”, to formalise an agreement in the next few days. “It is a very good signal (...) There is still work to be done, we should not claim victory too soon, but (the vote) is an important step forward”, Macron stressed. A new compromise could be presented to the EU ambassadors in the next few days for their agreement.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was cautious, saying that the Bulgarian decision should be “carefully analysed”. “I think the Prime Minister is really committed, trying to reach an agreement. Is this a solution that can work for North Macedonia? We cannot say without having analysed the text in detail, but, in my view, we must do everything to ensure that Albania and North Macedonia have accession conferences very soon”, the Chancellor stressed to the media.
For Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, the Bulgarian vote is important because “it unblocks the situation for Albania. In the event that there are new obstacles for North Macedonia, we want Albania to be able to move forward on its own”, he added, while Italy has long argued for the opening of accession negotiations with Tirana.
On Thursday, the Macedonian Prime Minister criticised the French proposal as “unacceptable” (see EUROPE 12978/2). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with editorial staff)