Skopje, 16 June 2025 (MIA) — Foreign Minister Timcho Mucunski said Monday the state was working on setting up meetings with official Sofia to try to find solutions to the delay in opening accession talks with the EU while also drawing "a clear red line on issues related to identity attributes."

"It is our job to offer solutions, but we also have to draw a clear red line on certain issues the Macedonian citizens and government are not ready to negotiate," FM Mucunski told a press conference Monday.

"Any redefinition of our identity, issues of a historical nature that we can claim with absolute certainty, issues of other identity attributes of the Macedonian people, we are not ready to discuss these. But, yes, we are ready to find rational solutions within the framework of European values. Where there's a will, there's a way," Mucunski said.

He also said there had been an initiative for a meeting with Bulgarian officials at the NATO Summit in The Hague at the end of this month.

"President Siljanovska Davkova and I, together with the minister of defense, will be part of that delegation. We hope this meeting can provide some impetus toward finding a solution," Mucunski said in response to reporters' questions.

He said the government had taken several steps to move forward toward full membership in the EU, including ongoing communication with the European Commission and the European Parliament, "but there is still the political barrier from Bulgaria" stalling the process of opening negotiations.

"If Bulgaria develops awareness of geopolitical developments, there will be understanding in Sofia that this process needs to be unblocked as soon as possible," Mucunski said.

Over the weekend, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski announced that the government had officially requested a meeting with Bulgarian officials and was waiting for an answer. mr/