Skopje, 7 March 2025 (MIA) - The sole acceptable solution for the dispute with Bulgaria is a delayed enforcement of the constitutional amendments. We want guarantees and a clear trajectory and predictability on the path to full-fledged membership in the European Union, sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade briefed media Monday.

According to the sources, the Government is committed to dialogue and is working towards a solution that would mean predictability because, the sources said, “if we adopt the constitutional amendments only to find ourselves in a situation of bilateralization a few months later, the damage will be significant for the reputation of the EU in our country, as well as the region as a whole”.

“We are leading a dialogue; we want a dialogue that will mean a clear path forward in the negotiations process, but we are still not in a situation where it is clear that after the constitutional amendments we wouldn’t have a bilateralization of the process once again, and that is why we are of the position that constitutional amendments with delayed implementation is the sole acceptable solution, since we believe in this way we will protect ourselves and we will also have motivation for the other side not to continue with the bilateralization but to instead encourage our path forward,” ministry sources said.

The sources pointed to a February press release by the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs following the meeting between the two foreign ministers which, they said, “publicly states that the constitutional amendments are only the beginning of negotiations and that once negotiations are opened there is a danger of bilateral issues emerging once again“, stressing that the country’s diplomatic activity is focused on preventing such a scenario.

Most of the Government’s efforts in recent months have been focused on this issue, said the sources. They also briefed journalists that when the solution of constitutional amendment as a condition for the opening of negotiations first emerged in 2022, representatives of the EU and certain member states told the current representatives of the Government that they did not expect the previous Government to accept the solution, “above all due to a lack of a capacity to deliver”.

But, according to the sources, “the previous Foreign Minister and a Deputy Prime Minister, who is currently out of the country, made efforts to convince them [the European representatives] they have a clear, concrete plan how to deliver a two-third majority in Parliament” for the constitutional amendments.

The sources also spoke of an opportunity for another meeting between Foreign Minister Timcho Mucunski and his Bulgarian counterpart Georg Georgiev in the coming months in Sofia, as part of an international conference.

Regarding the adoption of the constitutional amendments and when it could happen, the sources said they would back such a process once the country has a clear and predictable path, with the amendments being the last bilateral issue raised in the country’s accession process.

Sources from the Ministry stressed that the United States have a strategic interest in the country moving towards full-fledged EU membership and voiced conviction that the same approach will continue with the current administration as well.

Photo: MIA Archive