European Council President Charles Michel urged North Macedonia on Tuesday to back a French-proposed compromise on ending a dispute with neighboring Bulgaria that's blocking the country's long-delayed European Union accession bid.
Violent protests erupted in North Macedonia's capital, Skopje, where demonstrators tried to storm government buildings, after French President Emmanuel Macron announced the proposal — which many in the small Balkan country find controversial — last week. Macron said at a NATO summit in Madrid that “a compromise solution” to lift Bulgaria's opposition to its neighbor's EU aspirations had been achieved, without giving details.
