Bulgarian Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev said today that there is no reason to retreat from his country’s position on the accession of the Republic of North Macedonia to the European Union. Glavchev made the statement as the government was holding its weekly meeting and before leaving for Brussels for the EU-Western Balkans summit held today.

“There is no change in our position, it is a principle, it is in line with the so-called 2022 compromise. We made the compromise, it has been signed by all member states, including the Republic of North Macedonia and us,” Glavchev said. “I see no reason to make any concession to North Macedonia from the current Bulgarian position.”

The prime minister stressed that it is not right for a candidate country to impose conditions on countries that are already EU member states. He explained that usually when someone wants to join somewhere, he follows the rules established there, instead of asking for the rules to be adapted for the applicant. “This would be an unconditional precedent and against EU principles and the principles of human rights, minorities. Because the smallest obstacle for the Republic of North Macedonia is the 2022 compromise, if that can be an obstacle,” he added, reiterating that North Macedonia continues to fail to meet other requirements.

Bulgaria is waiting to see North Macedonia amend its constitution to include Bulgarians in it before it gives the green light to start accession negotiations, and this was set as a condition by the EU and accepted by Skopje. North Macedonia backed down as the government changed and the new government argues that constitutional amendments recognising a Bulgarian minority will not go ahead without prior guarantees from Bulgaria that it will not veto them in the future.