Thousands of people in North Macedonia have protested against concessions made to Bulgaria to facilitate EU accession talks with the south-eastern European country.
Several thousand people gathered in the capital Skopje on Saturday, waving North Macedonian flags, holding up placards that read “No to the EU” and shouting anti-government slogans.
The protests were supported by the right-wing conservative opposition party VMRO-DPMNE and other opposition groups.
At the end of the week, the North Macedonian government presented a new plan that France had drawn up during its EU Council Presidency, which ended on Thursday.
According to this compromise proposal, North Macedonia would have to change its constitution, among other things, in order to guarantee the rights of the Bulgarian minority.
"We don't need Europe if we are to be assimilated," opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski told the demonstrators.
"I don't want to belong to Europe because I have the right to be a Macedonian who speaks the Macedonian language and fights for his identity and culture."
Because of the dispute, EU member Bulgaria has been blocking the start of official accession negotiations with North Macedonia since 2020.
The government in Sofia is demanding that North Macedonia recognize Bulgarian roots in its language, population and history.
Alleged discrimination against the Bulgarian minority in North Macedonia has also been criticized.