TV showman Slavi Trifonov whose party “There is such a people” is in the quadruple ruling coalition in Bulgaria proposed a deal: Sofia to lift the veto on the start of EU negotiations for North Macedonia against the abolition of US visas for Bulgarians and Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen.
This is the first attempt to trade the Bulgarian veto by a Bulgarian political leader although Trifonov stated that this is his opinion as a citizen, not as a leader of a ruling party. This means that his position has not yet been agreed upon with the other partners in the coalition.
However, the country’s new foreign minister, Teodora Genchovska, is from the quota of “There are such people”.
On 10 January, the president will convene a meeting of the National Security Advisory Council to clarify Bulgaria’s position on North Macedonia at the very beginning of the functioning of the new parliament, which new players dominate.
Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov gave six months to resolve the veto issue with Skopje. He also prefers to view the talks with Skopje’s authorities positively, focusing on developing economic relations. However, President Rumen Radev announced Bulgaria’s position that North Macedonia should change its constitution to ensure equal treatment of North Macedonians with Bulgarian identity.
Slavi Trifonov became famous for his idea of Bulgaria helping to send a Macedonian into space last year, but then his party lost the elections.
“Since the Americans want so much North Macedonia in the European Union, let the citizens of Bulgaria, like the citizens of most countries in the European Union, not need visas to go to America. (…) And since we are a member of the EU, Bulgaria must immediately become a member of the Schengen area”, Trifonov announced on Facebook.
He continues that loyalty is in two directions – since the EU and the US want Bulgaria to be their loyal partner, they should also be loyal to Sofia.
“Under these conditions, and if the Macedonians, sorry – the North Macedonians, fulfil our conditions signed in the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation between Bulgaria and North Macedonia, we can start the negotiation process for admitting North Macedonia to the European Union,” Trifonov concluded.
Meanwhile, during his last 2021 address to the nation on 31 December, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said he would seek to decouple Albania’s path from North Macedonia’s if Bulgaria persists with its veto.
Although both Albania and North Macedonia have fulfilled all requirements on paper, in June 2021 the General Affairs Council of the EU failed to reach an agreement on starting EU accession talks. Bulgaria’s veto on North Macedonia over cultural and linguistic differences made a unanimous decision of the 27 ministers of foreign affairs impossible, which also penalised Albania.
France’s Ambassador to Albania, Elisabeth Barsacq said that Albania and North Macedonia’s accession path to the EU should not be decoupled.
Barsacq acknowledged that the desire to decouple the two countries comes from frustration over Bulgaria’s veto on North Macedonia.
“In regards to this issue, I believe that we need to overcome the idea that these two nations can be separated. I know that many say that these two countries have been treated as one and since things aren’t going so well between North Macedonia and Bulgaria then they should be decoupled. This should be overcome and we need to do our best so that the two intergovernmental conferences can be held at the same time,” Barsacq told Euronews.
(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg, Barbara Halla | Exit.al)