French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ready on Monday June 6 to welcome in Paris, “in good time”the authorities of Bulgaria and North Macedonia with a view to concluding a bilateral agreement which would allow the opening of negotiations for Skopje’s accession to the EU.
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France, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU until July 1, supports “since several weeks” the search for a solution to the dispute between the two countries, recalled the Elysée after discussions with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and Prime Minister of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovacevs. During these exchanges, Emmanuel Macron expressed his “full support for an agreement between the two countries, which would contribute to good neighborly relations” and of “consolidating the European perspective of North Macedonia”.
Sofia has blocked North Macedonia’s accession to the European Union since November 2020 because of disputes related to language and history. Before this Bulgarian blockade, North Macedonia had been confronted for years with the veto of Greece which refused it the name of Macedonia, also the name of its northern province, seeing it as a usurpation of its historical heritage. Athens only lifted its veto in 2018 when “from the North” was added to the country’s name.
Read alsoBrussels is trying to relaunch the membership of Albania and North Macedonia
Five countries are currently officially EU candidates, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Turkey. In 2019, Emmanuel Macron had vetoed, with two other Member States, the opening of accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania, considering that the conditions were not met for an enlargement of the EU to these two countries.