There has been a constant dialogue, from the moment this Government was formed until today. There was a period when the dialogue was more intense or less intense, but there has been no moment when we have not discussed finding an appropriate and fair solution within the framework of the positions that we have, Macedonian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade TimchoMucunski said Tuesday in response to a reporter’s question whether there’s talks to overcome the problem with Bulgaria that is blocking the country’s EU integration.
Asked whether there is any movement and signals from Sofia that it may withdraw from some of its positions, what our positions are and whether the Macedonian side is prepared for certain concessions, Mucunski stresses that “the red lines of our country are related to our history, identity, language and culture.”
“These are our lines that we present as part of all the talks we are conducting. It is simply not fair for our negotiations to constantly get stuck on a topic related to our identity, language, history and culture. These are our positions that we have repeatedly presented to the domestic public and to all our international factors. We expect a system of guarantees from the European institutions. We expect respect for reciprocity when it comes to human rights and we expect a solution that will be aimed at protecting our positions related to identity, language, culture and history,” said Mucunski.
Regarding how the EU dialogue is progressing, the FM noted that in the last few weeks there have been no more concrete talks due to collective annual holidays in both the EU member states and the European institutions.
“But I believe that in the period ahead there are announcements for more visits, here comes the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic is our principled supporter. I am sure that one of the topics we will open is this issue. So yes, it is normal for that dialogue to be constant, to flow, and we are leading that dialogue through the prism of the positions that we have presented,” FMMucunskitold reporters.
