Macron: Trying to stabilise situation with Bulgaria

“In the coming months, we will try to do more to stabilise the situation between Bulgaria and Northern Macedonia”, said French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to Zagreb.

France’s vision is to build an area of peace, stability and cooperation in the Western Balkans, strengthen the flow of people, and create a real European space, he added.

Bulgarian caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Ianev said the country “will not back down” from its position on North Macedonia, which is blocking the EU candidate country from opening accession negotiations with the European Commission.

Sloboden Pečat, North Macedonian media, quoted Bulgaria’s permanent representative to the EU, Rumen Aleksandrov, as saying after a meeting of the General Affairs Council in Brussels on 23 November that North Macedonia had not yet met the criteria to convene the first intergovernmental conference.

(Željko Trkanjec | EURACTIV.hr)