Kyuchyuk: Good neighborliness is an integral part of the negotiating framework with North Macedonia

“The agreements on good neighborliness with Bulgaria and Greece are an integral part of the negotiating framework with North Macedonia and Albania”, commented in an interview for the “Saturday 150” program on the Bulgarian National Radio, “Renew Europe” MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk, who is the Standing Rapporteur on North Macedonia of the European Parliament.

Ilhan Kyuchyuk clarified that there is no explicit text in the negotiating framework for North Macedonia, that would insist on the resumption of the work of the Joint Commission on Historical issues between Bulgaria and North Macedonia: “The texts are not really detailed. It is not the European Commission’s obligation to outline in great details, especially in such a framework document, how bilateral disputes between the two countries are to be resolved. The principled position on the philosophy of respecting good neighborly relations and continuing the negotiation process in their name has been very directly reflected both in this document and in the previous one, when the European Commission came up with more general conclusions,” the MEP said.

According to him, the rule of law will be a priority during this negotiation process: “All negotiating chapters will be closed when the horizontal criterion – rule of law – is met. EU countries would want guarantees from the countries they are in negotiations with”.

Kyuchyuk also commented that unlike at many other elections held in North Macedonia so far, this time the topic of Bulgaria is not the most important topic in the country’s domestic political discourse. “The fundamental question between the political forces in this campaign is whether the country should go 3 years back in time. One part of the political elite of the Republic of North Macedonia supports this thesis. Another part says that the EU is the future of the country and both reforms and active policies, working with partners and respecting good neighborly relations are being carried out in the name of accession. In the name of the country’s European future and in the name of future generations, political sacrifices were made.”

Ilhan Kyuchyuk called on politicians in North Macedonia to do their utmost to involve as many citizens as possible in the election campaign so that they can vote on the basis of the political platforms and candidates, in order to create a majority that can bear political responsibility and maintain a clear priority related to the European future of the country – because that is also the desire of a large part of the citizens, as a sociological survey ahead of the elections shows.

Тази публикация е достъпна и на следните езици: Bulgarian