Petkov: Northern Macedonia in the EU for at least 10 years

Bulgaria's prime minister, Kiril Petkov, sees Northern Macedonia in the European Union for at least 10 years, when, as it says, the EU will guarantee Bulgarians' rights in this country.

Petkov told BTV that if those guarantees are included in the European Agreement for Northern Macedonia, Bulgaria will not separately defend those rights, but will be guaranteed with the EU agreement.

He estimated the removal of the North Macedonia veto at the start of negotiations with the EU, whether the removal or not, is the wrong way of thinking, respectively.

According to Petkov, North Macedonia will be in the EU any sooner for 10 years, because, as he estimated, “there are many chapters on its path to Europe”. He noted that Bulgaria should decide only its own conditions, citing the Constitution before the first chapter as an example.

But we can put all the conditions we need in these special chapters. And so we will not solve the problem that currently exists within a week or two and we will have 10 years to work together to make Northern Macedonia a true European state and fully protect all the rights of Bulgarians living there. So the approach should be smarter”, Petkov said.

He added that there are many who try to shake up the good relations between Bulgaria and Northern Macedonia, but the Bulgarian government will not undergo such provocations, which, he says, are from both sides.

We have a common goal of making Northern Macedonia a European country, a good neighbour. Together we can achieve economic growth and we must ignore all these calls and nationalist provocations to move forward”, Petkov said.

Bulgaria has been blocking the start of northern Macedonia's accession talks with the EU since November 2020, demanding that disputed historical and linguistic issues be resolved first between the two countries/ KP.