Proposals for overcoming the dispute with Bulgaria, with which Macedonia should eventually get a date for negotiations in June, will be presented today in Sofia by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal Augusto Santos Silva, whose country holds the EU presidency, and EU Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Várhelyi. BGNES has the document to be discussed.
The document practically “transmits” the Bulgarian proposals within the Stabilization and Association Process, which is, however, a process where no operational decisions are made. Unlike the accession negotiations, Bulgaria is deprived of the opportunity to react if RNM does not fulfill its obligations again, BGNES said. It is clear from the document that the authorities in Skopje must prepare a roadmap, the implementation of which must be monitored within the PSA. At the same time, it should be noted that the possibility of the Stabilization and Association Council (SAC) overseeing the implementation of this roadmap is essentially a non-binding opportunity to discuss this issue without instruments of influence. According to BGNES, this is a new declarative and legally non-binding document.
The document from Portugal offers Macedonia “to recognize that the Macedonian language was codified in 1945”, and the origin is omitted in the proposal of the Presidency. It envisages the two countries to distribute unilateral declarations on the short and long name of RNM.
“The proposal to “confirm” the meaning of Art. 11 of the Agreement through unilateral declarations does not in any way oblige RNM to terminate its policy of establishment in Bulgaria of the so-called “Macedonian minority “and its promotion at the international level,” said BGNES.
