It is in the European Union’s interest to help North Macedonia remove the last obstacles on its EU path and Czechia is ready to contribute to finding a solution acceptable to both Skopje and Sofia, Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Petr Macinka told a press conference Wednesday held after his meeting with Macedonian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Timcho Mucunski in Ohrid.
“This is no longer a bilateral issue between North Macedonia and Bulgaria, but, based on the conclusions of the 2022 European Council, it has become a multilateral issue. So, it is no longer an issue of just two countries, but an issue of all countries,” Macinka said at a joint press conference with Mucunski.
He noted that the European Union should know how to assess the level of North Macedonia’s readiness for membership, the enormous work that the country has managed to do, but also the concessions it was prepared to make in the past.
FM Macinka assesses that this is a multilateral issue and a matter of agreement, on which, as he said, consensus must be reached. He stresses that Czechia believes that the EU’s ability to reach consensus is extremely important, because the Union cannot progress on a number of issues without unanimity.
“Czechia advocates the position that we do not want to change the system so that some issues would be resolved by qualified majority, nor do we want to reduce the number of issues that require unanimity. Therefore, we emphasize that it is necessary to reach consensus,” noted the Czech FM.
He adds that the Czech Republic is ready to contribute to the process and that it wants to discuss the issue, emphasizing the good relations that Prague has with both North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis plans to visit Sofia in the next three weeks, during which the issue could be one of the topics of discussion, added Macinka.
