Bulgaria intends to block North Macedonia's accession to the EU
Bulgaria may well block Macedonia's entry into the EU, just as Greece did until the country's name was changed from Macedonia to the Republic of North Macedonia.
Expert Oksana Petrovskaya stated this on the YouTube channel of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Now Bulgaria is using the same methods. Although the Bulgarians do not openly say that they will slow down Macedonia's accession, it is implied that if a number of issues are not resolved by June, they will have to speak out in the European Union, defending their own point of view. Culture and language become stumbling blocks. It is unclear how these problems will be resolved,” Petrovskaya said.
Let us recall that in March, after two years of discussions, the European Union decided to begin negotiations on membership with Macedonia and Albania. However, the other day, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, speaking at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, said that Macedonia will not join the EU until it abandons the name “Macedonian language”.
The country's language is proposed to be called the "official language of North Macedonia." In addition, Bulgaria refuses to recognize the presence of a Macedonian national minority.
“EU enlargement is a long process, on the way of which more and more new problems will arise. But, apparently, delaying the process suits both parties: the EU and the Balkan states,” Petrovskaya concludes.
In June 2018, the country formerly known as Macedonia agreed, despite popular opposition, to change its name to the Republic of North Macedonia under an agreement in which Greece dropped its opposition to North Macedonia joining NATO and the EU.
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