2024-09-27 16:20:30
The permanent representatives of the union divided Tirana and Skopje on their way to the EU
Double standards, dictates and dishonest intentions – this is how the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Hristijan Mickoski, summarized the decision of Brussels to divide the path to EU membership between Albania and his country.
The separation of the two candidate members became clear after a meeting of the permanent representatives of the union in Brussels. With a unanimous decision, they started actual negotiations with Tirana for full membership. Officially, this should be done at the second EU-Albania intergovernmental conference, which will be held in Luxembourg on October 15.
The two countries from the Western Balkans started negotiations together in the summer of 2022. Due to the dispute between Skopje and Sofia, the actual start of the accession negotiations was delayed, which directly affected Albania’s progress, Western media noted.
“These are not the values that my generation fell in love with,” Mitkoski was categorical and pointed out that the treaty on good neighborliness did not state that Bulgarians should be included in the constitution. For his part, the chairman of the opposition party SDSM Venko Filipce defined the secession of North Macedonia from Albania as a big
disaster and heavy defeat
about the policies of the current government. In turn, the country’s president, Gordana Siljanovska, used the rostrum at the UN summit to comment on the events. She announced that she had a “friendly meeting with President Rumen Radev”. Regarding relations with Bulgaria, Siljanovska noted that the most repeated thesis of all is that the treaties must be respected – and reinforced Mitkoski’s position that there is no need for Bulgarians to be included in the country’s constitution. This should be clear to every lawyer.
Meanwhile, the Bulgarian parliament adopted with absolute unanimity – 178 votes “for”, a declaration condemning the language of hatred coming from representatives of the ruling party in the RSM. It declares a political intention and aspiration to complete the construction of Pan-European Corridor 8 on the Bulgarian side and calls on the government in Skopje to approach responsibly and in good faith to all agreements undertaken. It insists on restoring the positive dialogue interrupted by the RSM and stopping the anti-Bulgarian campaign and provocative statements towards our country. The third point confirms the will of our country to
general celebration of “historical events
and personalities given the rich common history of the two countries”.
The decision of Brussels to separate Albania from North Macedonia was also commented on by Bulgarian politicians. “Patience is required of us, we must not appear aggressive. The tactic of our colleagues in the RSM is to blame us. We have a Good Neighbor Agreement and no one can budge from it. Bulgaria did not violate the good tone in any way, we only said “resignation”, which is normal”, said the leader of GERB Boyko Borisov. According to him, “revenge is best when it’s cool and cold.”
PP leader Kiril Petkov was pleased that the entire EU stood behind Bulgaria in the dispute. “Time has shown that the French proposal is good for Bulgaria. RSM must decide whether it wants to accept the Bulgarians in its constitution or break away from the EU,” he said. The leader of ITN Slavi Trifonov announced that in our south-western neighbor there are politicians who openly hate Bulgaria, and most of them were duplicitous because they had Bulgarian citizenship.