With the Treaty of Good Neighborhood and Friendship, Bulgaria is obliged to support us, not block us. We must protect the EU accession process from bilateralization, because it is becoming a problem for the Union itself.
This was stated by the Minister of European Affairs of North Macedonia Orhan Murtezani, dariknews.bg reported.
"The bilateralization of the process of negotiations for accession to the European Union is not only becoming a problem for the candidate countries, but is also starting to become a serious problem for the Union itself, especially now that Montenegro's chapters are being closed and Croatia has declared a blockade," Murtezani said in an interview with MIA.
He pointed out that the member states and the institutions representing the Union are aware of these problems and are "listening to the arguments with great attention".
"On several occasions, together with the Prime Minister (Hristijan Mickoski), we have tried to explain that the obligations undertaken in connection with the implementation of the constitutional changes remain as they are, there is a political will and desire to implement them, but we must protect the process from further bilateralization, "he added.
According to him, it makes no sense for this process to be based "on certain historical events in the 11th, 12th or 13th centuries."
"Therefore, if the process is to make us a reliable country for entering the European Union, the process must be directed towards reforms and the implementation of standards. There is understanding in Brussels for this, there is support not only in our case, but also in a broader sense. It remains for us to hope, through bilateral initiatives, that these attempts in neighboring Bulgaria will end with a solid and stable regular government, with which we will sit down to talk, because bilateral agreements create obligations for both sides. "With the Treaty of Good Neighborhood and Friendship, Bulgaria is obliged to support us, not block us," Murtezani also stated.