Vigenin: The obstacle to North Macedonia joining the European Union is Mickoski himself

“The obstacle to the accession of the Republic of North Macedonia to the European Union is the actions of its own prime minister Hristijan Mickoski. With his unwillingness to meet the commitments the country has made, he is vetoing his own state. And more and more people understand this.” This was stated by the head of the delegation of Bulgarian socialists in the European Parliament Kristian Vigenin on the programme “Brussels 1” from Strasbourg on Bulgaria On Air television. In his view, the current texts in the report on the progress of the Republic of North Macedonia towards the EU, which have not been voted on, create additional tension between it and Bulgaria. “The rapporteur, consciously or not, is creating opportunities for Mr Mickoski to use the positions of the European Parliament domestically, in purely party political terms in the Republic of North Macedonia,” Vigenin said.

“We continue to believe that the procedure was breached, because firm doubts were created about outside interference in the preparation of the report, which is not objective and probably pursues some other goals, beyond what the EP is expected to do. The purpose of the document is a different one, however, and that is why we will continue to insist on clearer rules,” the MEP commented.

Kristian Vigenin called for more transparency and scrutiny in the drafting of reports. In his view, the misuse of European Parliament reports and this kind of malicious interpretation, which in fact destroys trust, is unacceptable in future.

“This was to some extent a test for us too, for the Bulgarian representatives in the European Parliament and for the Bulgarian state as well. Because in addition to our unanimous position, the Bulgarian parliament adopted a unanimous position on the Republic of North Macedonia. We have not shown such joint action on other questions. We want to achieve what a commitment has already been made to: that the rights of people with Bulgarian self-identification in the Republic of North Macedonia are respected. That North Macedonia itself meets its commitment to include Bulgarians in its Constitution and everything that follows from that,” Kristian Vigenin added.