Skopje Disappointed with "We Continue the Change"

The uplifting and optimistic comments in the Republic of North Macedonia on the forthcoming appointment of Daniel Laurer from "We Continue the Change" as Bulgarian Foreign Minister were quickly replaced by disappointment after Laurer said it was unrealistic for the country to be allowed to start membership talks for the European Union by the end of the year.

Laurer told BTV Radio that December 14, when the last summit of the year of the European Union will take place, is an unrealistically short deadline for reaching a comprehensive agreement.

"Obviously we have some ideas for positions in our team, but all this is to be finalized as a result of the coalition negotiations that are coming in the coming weeks. Comments from the Republic of North Macedonia, which comment on our previous statements, should not influence the decisions in our country."

This was the comment of Daniel Laurer on the enthusiastic statement of the chief negotiator with Bulgaria from North Macedonia Vlado Buchkovski that Laurer will be Bulgaria’s foreign minister and with him a solution to the Bulgarian veto will be found, as well as the comments of politicians and analysts in Bulgaria that it is absurd for Skopje to determine who will be a diplomat №1 in our country.

Speaking to bTV radio, Laurer did not deny that he had been discussed for the post of foreign minister and said that the historical commission between the two countries could not be the only factor determining our policy.

"So far, we believe that the work of the historical commission does not offer progress and both sides feel dissatisfied with what is happening and we need to find a new formula. Its function should be supportive, but not the only one in this process. The dispute is deep and we know that in the Balkans our peoples are bound by a very long history. These discussions must go their own way. "This is happening between all the neighboring peoples of the Balkans, and there is no way this is the only way to talk between us and them," Daniel Laurer said.

Macedonia will obviously wait for the start of the negotiations, the media near Vardar commented with displeasure in the interview of a politician from "We Continue the Change".

Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Nikola Dimitrov said the focus of Zoran Zaev's government was to start negotiations at the December European Council, but insured that due to the short deadline, this could happen in January. So far, there are no signals from the caretaker Bulgarian government about the change of position, which has become even stronger after Dimitrov's reckless statements that his country does not exert any pressure on Macedonian citizens with Bulgarian self-consciousness.

At the same time, a number of cases were publicly announced in which Bulgarians from RNM had difficulty declaring their origin during the state census, and some of them were also questioned by service officials.

There is no evidence of a halt to the anti-Bulgarian campaign of Macedonia's ruling Social Democratic Union (SDSM), which even accused the opposition candidate who won the election in Skopje of having a Bulgarian passport as an argument for voting against it.

VMRO-DPMNE Wins Convincingly Local Elections in the Republic of North Macedonia

/ClubZ

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