The head of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, asked Bulgaria on Thursday to help implement the European Council's decision on opening accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania.

The European Council decided in 2020 to start negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania,“ Von der Layen told a joint news conference after meeting Bulgarian Prime Minister Kirill Petkov in Sofia. She added it was important that EU member states „fulfil their promise to their neighbours, in these difficult times“, Skopje media reported.

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“The topic of protecting minorities is a core value of the EU. It is in Article 2 of our treaties, so this is an important topic. It is important that we deliver on our promise in these difficult times towards our neigbours. These times are very special and very difficult, very turbulent, and they will determine the future of Europe,” the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said during her visit to Bulgaria.

“I want to commend Bulgaria for all the support here in the region, where our goodneighbourly conditions are concerned,” Ursula von der Leyen stated. “It is also important to have a clear approach to the tasks ahead of us. I want to remind all of us, that in 2020, the European Council took a major decision to step forward and to say - now it is time, and we promise to start accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania. I think it is now important that we deliver together. I count on Bulgaria that you will skillfully steer the process and I know that you are able to do that.”

Von der Layen added that „nothing will be the same as before the war in Ukraine,“ that the promise to the partners from 2020 should be fulfilled and that she counted on Bulgaria to lead the process skillfully.

She said that the rights of minorities were at the core of European treaties and values and that their protection was a fundamental value in the focus of attention.

In early April, Bulgarian Prime Minister Petkov and Prime Minister of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovacevski separately underlined they had made significant progress in negotiations on the dispute between the two countries.

In December 2020, Sofia vetoed the start of accession talks with North Macedonia, demanding that Skopje meet the Neighbourhood Agreement's conditions and recognise Bulgaria's Macedonian roots and language. Last year, it modified the requirements and formulated them in the "Five plus one" document.

Bulgaria demands that Skopje recognises that the history of North Macedonia before 1944 is the history of Bulgaria. As Sofia put it, Skopje should stop usurping some Bulgarian historical figures.

Sofia's condition for unblocking EU negotiations with Skopje is to stop alleged hate speech against Bulgarians and make constitutional changes to protect the Bulgarian minority. According to Bulgaria, the EU should provide mechanisms to control whether Skopje adheres to those obligations.

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