Macedonian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade TimchoMucunski says that no such meeting has been arranged at the moment, but adds that he would not be surprised if there is a high-level meeting during, as the FM said, his and President GordanaSiljanovska-Davkova’s visit to Bulgaria on the occasion of a regional event
“I expect President GordanaSiljanovska-Davkova and I to be in Sofia next week at a regional event where we would meet again with our counterparts and talk,” saidMucunski in response to a reporter’s question after an event in Skopje.
Speaking about relations with Sofia, the Macedonian FM is adamant that dialogue and meetings at the highest level are needed.
Regarding the amendments to the country report forwarded by Bulgarian MEPs, which call on the governments of Bulgaria and Macedonia to hold the third intergovernmental commission in order to implement the Good Neighborhood Agreement and its protocols, Mucunski says that there should be a dialogue between the countries.
“We should undoubtedly have a dialogue with Bulgaria. But that is not the problem. The problem is that, among other things, Bulgaria is violating the Good Neighborliness Treaty. Let’s put aside the question of whether the treaty is good or bad. Bulgaria has committed itself in that agreement to encourage and support our European integration path, and it is not doing so. But if you ask me whether we should have more high-level meetings, there should be. We do not have the choice and luxury as a European state, as a NATO member state, to distance ourselves from communication with our neighbors, no matter how difficult that communication may be,” noted the FM.
The minister reiterates that the country remains on the position that there are currently no conditions for implementing the constitutional amendments. Conditions for such a step, as he said, can be created on the basis of mutual trust, which can be built if the country is given guarantees by all EU member states.
Regarding the statements made by European Council President Costa, that the only conclusions that can be drawn as guarantees for the country are that Macedonia should fulfill what has been agreed,Mucunski says that he has not heard such an explicit statement from him.
“What I can say is that we remain committed to European reforms, we remain with a clear strategic orientation in foreign policy, but we also firmly remain in the position that at this moment there are no conditions for constitutional changes,” Mucunskiunderlined.
