A long-running name dispute with its southern neighbor Greece had seen Athens put up obstacle after obstacle to Skopje joining the bloc.EU leaders gave the green light for North Macedonia and Albania to begin formal talks to join the bloc in March. But another hurdle has crept up, this time from the country’s eastern neighbor, Bulgaria, writes Euronews in an analysis titled “Bulgaria is putting the brakes on North Macedonia’s EU dreams. Here’s why”.
According to Euronews, Boyko Borissov is doing this because of domestic political reasons. Sofia, currently engulfed in long-running anti-government protests, has objected to membership talks getting underway, saying it is unhappy with the “current negotiating framework”.
Anti-corruption protests have been ongoing in Bulgaria for more than 100 days with protesters calling for Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and the country’s top prosecutor, Ivan Geshev, to step down. They accuse the two men of colluding with an oligarchic mafia.
Borissov, who has refused to resign, has so far survived five votes of no confidence.
