Skopje, 26 November 2021 (MIA) — The EU remains optimistic the Bulgarian blockade would be lifted by year-end, although not much time remains until Dec. 14, when the General Affairs Council will decide whether to start negotiations with North Macedonia, Slovenian Ambassador Milan Predan told MIA in an interview. “It’s still realistic to expect we could at least prepare the ground for the agreement, which might be taken also in January. You have waited so long so I think it will not be a tragedy to wait another few weeks,” he said. “The French Presidency will be willing to support such a decision in January in the beginning of their presidency,” Ambassador Predan said, noting that the Dec. 14 deadline was tight, “particularly if we consider the current situation in both countries in North Macedonia and Bulgaria.” “[In North Macedonia], we have a Prime Minister who is about to resign. It’s very important to have a strong political government in place in order to take heavy political decisions,” Predan said. “On the other side, we have the situation with Bulgaria where the good thing is that apparently the government will be formed after their third elections,” he said, adding that it was unlikely the reelected President would be ready, however, to make political decisions by himself without a government in place. “The situation is quite complicated and in order to come to some compromises on this bilateral level, we need political governments on both sides. So the question is if we will have that until mid December on the Bulgarian side,” Predan said. Remarking that Bulgaria’s “new potential prime minister Mr. Petkov has a more rational approach,” Ambassador Predan interpreted as encouraging Petkov’s statements that the countries’ bilateral dialogue shouldn’t focus solely on history but instead include the economy, education, culture, and media. The Slovenian ambassador said this gave hope the Bulgarian side would be willing to come to an agreement. “Political will is crucial. If you do not want to make an agreement then it is hard to persuade anybody to do it. We need both sides to be on board to show political will,” he said, pointing out that the demands Bulgaria had put on the table wouldn't be dismissed. “Let’s start negotiations and then we will have enough time to solve other issues,” he added. MIA will publish the interview with Slovenian Ambassador Predan in its entirety tomorrow. mr/