Bulgaria accepts a resumption of EU accession talks for North Macedonia

North Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski alongside Emmanuel Macron during an EUI summit in Brussels on June 23, 2022. AP - Olivier Matthys

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The Bulgarian Parliament votes in favor of a resumption of EU accession talks for North Macedonia.

A proposal, coming from the French presidency of the EU, consists in integrating Bulgarian demands into the roadmap.

Sofia is now expected to lift her veto on the talks. 

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With our correspondent in Sofia,

North Macedonia is a hot political topic, both at European and national level.

On June 22, he caused the fall of the government of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and broke the majority in Parliament.

The subject is so delicate that parties in the ruling coalition voted against the French proposal or abstained, while the opposition voted in favour.

The dispute between Sofia and Skopje is complex: Bulgaria was the first country to recognize the independence of Macedonia in 1991, without however recognizing the Macedonian language, considered a dialect of Bulgarian.

Another breaking point: the inclusion of Bulgarians in the ethnic groups recognized in the Macedonian Constitution.

In 2017, the two countries signed a friendship treaty to pave the way for European membership of the Western Balkans during Bulgaria's 2018 EU Presidency. Historical and cultural disputes once again soured bilateral relations in 2020. 

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• Bulgaria

• North Macedonia

• European Union