According to Parliamentary Vice President Atanas Atanasov, the decision was taken by 170 votes to 37, with 21 abstentions.
The Bulgarian Parliament voted today to lift the veto on the start of accession negotiations between the Northern Macedonia and European Unionpaving the way for breaking the deadlock and starting talks.
“The decision was taken by 170 votes to 37, with 21 abstentions,” the vice-president said at the end of the vote. Atanas Atanasov.
The decision must now be ratified by the outgoing government of pro-European Kirill Petkov, who said yesterday he would act “quickly”.
Northern Macedonia has been blocked in the EU lobby since 2005. Greece had initially vetoed it until 2018 and then Sofia blocked the process in 2020 amid long-standing historical and cultural conflicts.
Bulgaria was, however, the first country to recognize its neighbor’s independence during the break-up of the former Yugoslavia in 1992, but relations have since soured.
As a result of this dispute, negotiations with Albania have also stalled, as the EU has linked the two candidates.
Today’s vote in the Bulgarian parliament was facilitated by the conversion of two Bulgarian opposition parties, including that of former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, into a French-mediated presidency of the rotating European Union presidency this semester.
According to the compromise on the table, Skopje should mainly commit to amending the country’s constitution to include Bulgarians in recognized national groups and “implement” a 2017 friendship treaty aimed at eliminating talks. hate.
In the run-up to the vote, Christo Ivanov, chairman of the Democratic Party of Bulgaria, which had the initiative to vote in parliament, called on the parties “not to miss this opportunity” to resolve the issue before it ends. of the French Presidency on 30 June.
“Ultimately, it is in our interest to offer the prospect of the Western Balkans joining the EU”he underlined.
Leaders of these countries yesterday, Thursday, expressed their “dissatisfaction” and denounced the lack of “credibility” of the EU withfollowing the 27-nation summit in Brussels.
The war in Ukraine has once again brought to the table the issue of EU enlargement in the Balkans, and Western pressure on Sofia to lift its opposition has increased.
Despite much opposition from the public and parties, Prime Minister Kirill Petkov has been pursuing a rapprochement strategy in recent months.
The differences remain, however, and MEPs warned today that new obstacles could not be ruled out if the talks stumbled.
According to the text adopted today, “nothing in the EU accession process can be interpreted as Bulgaria ‘s recognition of the Macedonian language”, which Sofia considers a Bulgarian dialect.
According to Agence France-Presse, Skopje also remains to be convinced: the prime minister Dimitar Kovachevsky had stated yesterday, Thursday, that this compromise proposal “in its current form” is “unacceptable”.
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