Bulgarian MPs have voted to unblock the opening of talks with North Macedonia
On Friday, the Bulgarian parliament voted to lift the veto on North Macedonia’s EU accession talks, leaving a ball on Skopje’s side.
Following Thursday’s summit between 27 EU leaders and six heads of government from the Western Balkans, the removal of the veto, related to a longstanding cultural and linguistic dispute between Sofia and Skopje, was supported by 170 Bulgarian MPs, with 37 voting against and 21 abstaining.
The decision was hailed as a “historic” one by Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov. Writing on Twitter, he confirmed that the parliament approved a French compromise proposal. The prime minister also stressed that the “integration of the Western Balkans is the strategic interest of the EU.”
The country’s Foreign Ministry was also quick to respond to the news by saying that Sofia had not “added any new requests to Skopje” and was prepared…
