Skopje, 28 January 2022 (MIA) – No one is negotiating the identity,  language and other identity-related characteristics, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani stressed while addressing the Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament about the course of the negotiations and ongoing relations between North Macedonia and Bulgaria. “Speaking of sensitive issue, I want to be clear – no one is negotiating the identity. Language and other identity-related characteristics are stemming from the right to self-determination of every human being, of every nation, and of every ethnic community. We have neither negotiated this, nor do we have the right to negotiate. No one will ever negotiate about them,” Osmani emphasized. Today, he said, we are only discussing the approach to defining the right to self-determination in line with the governing system in the two countries. “It leads us to the set of political issues, until recently referred to as 5+1 package,” Osmani added. According to him, “a mild hysteria” has been spreading lately that ad-hoc solutions to such sensitive issues are possible and that any solution to the detriment of the state positions defined by the Parliament resolution could be adopted “overnight, behind closed doors without the citizens being informed.” The country’s team, Osmani stressed, fully abides by the state position that every single issue is filtered through the experts and diplomats, namely professionals in the sphere regardless of which party is in power. “It’s the same team my predecessors have worked with, including the current chair of the Committee, Antonio Miloshoski when he served as foreign minister. Next is the government, where decisions are made together and finally this Committee and Parliament in general. And I have to mention the citizens, too,” he added. Ultimately, said the Minister, the most sensitive issues are not up for political talks, they are discussed by the experts in the joint commission on historical and educational issues. “For us, the most important issue as part of the package is the implementation of the March 2020 decision of the European Council and the holding of the first intergovernmental conference. It is our key position that the Macedonian language in the negotiating framework should be treated as official language in the EU without any additional qualifications,” said FM Osmani. The package also includes the principle of self-determination, the issue of hate speech and rehabilitation of the victims of Communism, according to him. “There is nothing spectacular in this package of political issues scaring the citizens. According to the stage of the negotiations we are in, namely sharing of ideas, non papers, working documents, ordinary talks, we’re still not able to present any proposals here, it might disrupt the negotiations,” explained Osmani. He reassured the lawmakers that any draft-document considered acceptable by the two sides would be sent to Parliament before being approved. Unfortunately, Osmani said, there had been talks at a time when Bulgaria had caretaker government and had organized three elections and we had held local elections before having a process for formation of a new government. “It is truly a political relief that the two countries this year finally have political governments and appropriately, we’ve agreed to take a fresh approach to boost communication in order to restore trust, enhance bilateral cooperation and settle political differences. We’ve agreed in principle to focus more on the future than on the past,” he stated. Osmani said he expected in the next six months a new picture to be sent about the relationship and cooperation between the two countries, recognized by the citizens at home as well as by the international community. “I believe we’re doing the right thing. We work carefully with patience but also intensely without allowing the dialogue to be pushed aside and our misunderstanding to be turned into a frozen conflict lasting decades… I have no dilemma we have differences about the approach in addressing the challenge, but at the same time I have no dilemma that we have joint positions founded in this Parliament in a declaration passed with consensus,” FM Osmani said addressing the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament.