The European Union has not been able to implement its own decision to start negotiations with Macedonia for more than a year now, said Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Nikola Dimitrov in Sunday’s interview with Radio Free Europe, commenting on the recent intensification of communication between the state leadership of Macedonia and Bulgaria.
Answering the question how much the declaration of the Bulgarian Parliament from 2019 will be represented in the roadmap that will be used to overcome the dispute between Skopje and Sofia, Dimitrov said that in this document proposed by the Portuguese presidency there are two parts of the compromise.
“The process is at a very delicate stage and I would not go into details to give diplomacy a chance, but looking closely, the compromise has two sides – One side where we agree to disagree in a way. In it, the Bulgarian side has its positions and we have our positions. The second part is where we obviously have common positions and interest to do everything we can to have a concrete roadmap, with deadlines, with competent institutions. To be able to implement the Friendship Agreement,” says Dimitrov in the interview.
Macedonia should submit a roadmap containing the requirements of the Bulgarian declaration, which was adopted by the local Parliament in 2019. Dimitrov says the implementation of the Good Neighbor Treaty can be monitored through the Stabilization and Association Agreement.
