The government of North Macedonia will soon start the procedures regarding the amendment of the Constitution, in order to include the Bulgarian minority living in the country, condition necessary for Skopje to continue accession negotiations with the EU.

The Ministry of Justice of North Macedonia has already set a deadline of April 10 for the political parties, the Office of the President, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Secretariat for European Affairs to submit their proposals for the names of their representatives to the working group for the review of Constitution.

For almost two years, Bulgaria blocked the start of North Macedonia’s accession negotiations with the EU due to open ethnic, linguistic and historical differences between the two countries, which has provoked strong reactions from Skopje and led to a cooling of their relations.

However, last summer, the two countries reached an agreement, based on a proposal from the European Union, under which Sofia would lift its veto on Skopje’s opening of accession negotiations with the EU, provided that North Macedonia will proceed to amend its Constitution, with the inclusion of the Bulgarian minority living in the country. This agreement provokes the strong reactions of the largest opposition party of North Macedonia, the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE, which has declared in all tones that he is not going to consent to such an amendment of the Constitution of the country.

Amending the Constitution of North Macedonia requires a 2/3 majority in Parliament, which the government in Skopje and the parties supporting the agreement with Bulgaria do not currently have.

According to the last population census carried out in 2021 in North Macedonia, Bulgarians make up only 0.19% of the country’s population (a total of 3,504 people), a fact which the official Sofia disputes and considers that the percentage of Bulgarians in North Macedonia it is much larger.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria is reportedly asking to join the process of amending the North Macedonian Constitution.

“In North Macedonia, variations of future texts to change the country’s Constitution are already being discussed, and Bulgaria wants to be part of this process, so that it can proceed without obstacles”, stated the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Nikolai Milkov, who added that for this purpose he spoke with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, with whom he met yesterday in Brussels, on the sidelines of the meeting of the foreign ministers of the NATO countries.

According to Milkov, Bulgaria is extending its hand to continue the dialogue with North Macedonia and hopes that there will be good will from Skopje as well.

However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia flatly refused the possibility of including Bulgaria in the procedures for amending the Constitution.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs that the process of amending the Constitution is an internal matter of the Republic of North Macedonia, which as an obligation is related to the accession negotiations with the European Union. The Parliament is expected to make such a decision, sovereignly and in accordance with the long-term interests of the citizens of North Macedonia, who are represented in the parliament, and in this context, there is no possibility or political will for the integration of citizens and institutions from abroad, including Republic of Bulgaria. Such a request was not received or discussed between Ministers Osmani and Milkov”, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia tonight.