Skopje, 2 July 2022 (MIA) – Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani told Saturday’s press briefing it is a lie that bilateral issues, i.e. agreements with Bulgaria are included in the framework through the current European proposal, saying they were part of all draft-frameworks until now. The FM said a new aspect is that the section on human and minority rights in the French proposal “is placed in a different paragraph, out of the roadmap, as a separate action plan.” “They said the agreements have entered this framework. This is not true. The agreements have always been part of the framework, ever since we have been in talks with the EU,” said FM Osmani. He quoted the specific section of the new framework, which reads, “North Macedonia’s commitment to good neighbourly relations and closer regional cooperation, including through achieving tangible results and implementing in good faith bilateral agreements, including the Prespa Agreement with Greece and the Treaty on Good Neighbourly Relations with Bulgaria of 2017 as well as the annual reviews and measures for its effective implementation”. “This is the difference between the acceptable framework from all others, and the new French framework that has resulted in hysteria. What is the difference? In the previous it says ‘agreement’ and here it says ‘agreement, annual reviews and measures for implementation’. What is the difference between agreement and its implementation? In the previous it reads ‘implementing agreements through tangible results’ and now it reads ‘tangible results and annual reviews for the agreement’s implementation’. This is in the general part, not in the section of the roadmaps, and it is very important,” noted Osmani. The difference between the acceptable German proposal and the new French proposal, he added, is absolute tautology and a question of formulating sentences. “It is a lie that historical issues, bilateral issues have been included in the French proposal differently from any other proposal,” said Osmani. In the section of benchmarks, i.e. the roadmap, the FM explained that the section on human and minority rights in the French proposal is placed in a different paragraph, out of the roadmap, as a separate action plan. “Again the same content that reads that North Macedonia will adopt through an inclusive process an Action Plan dedicated to the protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities or communities, including, inter alia, in the field of non-discrimination, fight against hate speech, education – meaning the right to education not speculating that this relates to historical issues – setting up effective measures, reporting mechanisms and identifying respective responsible institutions. This is included in our action plan on minority rights,” said Osmani. The FM added this is the only bilateral issue included in the framework. “Imagine the hysteria that erupted, according to which the French proposal has certain mechanisms and so on. This new proposal included, first of all, the Friendship Treaty and implementation, which is absolutely the same, and second, the Action Plan on human rights is moved from one paragraph to another. And this is used to manipulate the public as being treason, that something new has been added,” said Osmani. North Macedonia will include Montenegrins, Croats and Bulgarians in the Constitution and the process of constitutional revision would take place before the opening of the first chapter. “The start of the negotiations, the first intergovernmental conference, the opening of the talks, full screening process and prior to opening of the first chapter is the timeframe for the constitutional revision. What is the constitutional revision about? We will list Montenegrins, Croats and Bulgarians alongside six other communities,” said Osmani. The FM noted that Bulgarians would get the same rights as all other Macedonian nationals, nothing less than everyone else. “The incorporation of Bulgarians alongside the Macedonian people opens a new approach, directly in the Constitution, an approach that has always been different in the Republic of Bulgaria,” underlined Osmani.