Skopje, 11 June 2022 (MIA) – Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski held a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who is paying an official visit to North Macedonia on Saturday. “We cannot keep being held hostage at EU summits on whether there will be a date or not. Getting the hopes up as it was in the past over what will happen at a summit doesn’t depend on North Macedonia. It solely depends on whether the 27 members agree and decide to start the first intergovernmental conference. It currently depends on only one EU member state which holds hostage two EU candidate countries – North Macedonia and Albania on the path to EU integration,” Kovachevski said in response to a reporter’s question at the joint press conference. As regards political turmoil in Bulgaria after the party “There Is Such A People” announced it would pull out of the government in Sofia, Kovachevski stressed that the country can in no way participate or comment on this, or interpret it in any way, given that it is a country that conducts active talks with Bulgaria. “These talks are conducted on a principled basis, on the basis of European values. The Foreign Ministry, the Secretariat for European Affairs have been involved throughout the negotiations with their full capacity and based on the provisions of the Resolution that we have adopted in our Parliament. Regarding the negotiations themselves, and I’ve already said this before, when it comes to negotiations, one of the preconditions for negotiations to be successful is for the negotiating parties to keep confidential in the process, i.e. to want to reach a solution. We are the party that wants to reach a solution. I already mentioned based on which principles. Bulgaria should also be prepared to do so,” said Kovachevski. However, Kovachevski added, there is a big difference between us and Bulgaria and this issue for us, he noted, was a matter of talks to start negotiations with the EU. “At no point have we as a Government and a ruling coalition instrumentalized and politicized the issue for daily political points or conducting internal politics. Quite the opposite, this issue in Bulgaria was raised to the level of internal politics in their country. It was often unilaterally instrumentalized and politicized, which is not good. Therefore, from that aspect, I wouldn’t like to comment on reports in the media about certain demands of the Bulgarian side, given that all demands, all open issues are subject to talks between the foreign ministries,” Kovachevski said. The PM reiterated that once the Foreign Ministry reaches a document that is mutually acceptable to both parties, then such documents can be shared with the institutions in the two countries, adding that there is no such mutually acceptable document at this point. Speaking at the joint press conference with Scholz, Kovachevski once again expressed gratitude for Germany’s support in starting EU accession talks. “The Federal Republic of Germany has proved for 30 years now its friendship with our country. During those 30 years, North Macedonia made many difficult decisions, a number of reforms, and the German state, the German administration and the Chancellor of Germany have always stood with us. That’s also the case today, when the Chancellor conveyed Germany’s unequivocal support for sooner European integration of North Macedonia,” Kovachevski stressed. Earlier on Saturday, Kovachevski and Scholz held a tête-à-tête meeting, stressing that ahead of the EU Summit in June under the French Presidency, a clear message and a step to unblock the enlargement process are expected with start of accession talks for North Macedonia, as a country that fulfilled all criteria and requirements, and as a strategic decision of security importance for Europe.