North Macedonia Votes to End Dispute with Bulgaria

The Lawmakers in North Macedonia have passed a French-brokered deal aimed at settling a dispute with Bulgaria and clearing the way to long-due European Union membership talks.

The 120-seat parliament, voted in favour of the agreement with 68 votes while the opposition lawmakers did not participate in the vote and left the room.

In a press conference Prime Minister, Dimitar Kovacevski said “Today we are opening a new perspective for our country, from today we are moving with accelerated steps to join the EU family.”

Kovacevski said the first meeting between his government and the EU would be held on Tuesday.

Proposal
The deal proposes that North Macedonia’s constitution be amended to recognise a Bulgarian minority, but does not require Bulgaria to recognise the Macedonian language.

In exchange, Bulgaria will allow it’s West Balkan neighbour to start membership talks with the EU.

European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen who travelled to Skopje and urged lawmakers on Thursday to vote the deal, said the vote “paves the way for opening the accession negotiations rapidly.”

Albania’s Prime Minister, Edi Rama whose country has been held back because the EU has linked its progress to that of North Macedonia, said an Albanian delegation would travel to Brussels on Monday to start membership talks.

U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken welcomed the vote saying Washington recognised “the difficult tradeoffs considered in this compromise, which acknowledges and respects North Macedonia’s cultural identity and the Macedonian language.”

Constitutional Changes
The leader of the opposition party VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, whose party protested against the deal since the beginning of July, said “nothing was over.”

He added that his party would not back constitutional changes which require two-thirds of the vote.

Bulgaria’s parliament lifted its veto on Macedonian-EU talks last month. This also triggered protests in Bulgaria and contributed to a no-confidence vote that toppled the government.

North Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic, has been a candidate for EU membership for 17 years but approval for talks was first blocked by Greece and then by Bulgaria.

REUTERS/CO