North Macedonia’s parliament approved a European Union proposal that aims to help resolve a Balkan dispute and unlock the organization’s enlargement in Europe’s most volatile region.
After a three-day discussion in the capital, Skopje, 68 lawmakers in the 120-member assembly voted Saturday in favor of a motion to let the government back a framework for negotiations offered by the EU.
By approving the EU proposal, “we remain on the only road to which nobody offered an alternative,” Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski told lawmakers on Thursday, a the start of the two-day debates. “We’re starting to quickly move and change the country in the process of negotiations.”
The process had been blocked by neighboring Bulgaria over a long disagreement involving history and language. Bulgaria, which also wants guarantees for the rights of its nationals in North Macedonia, approved a similar EU mechanism last month that, under certain conditions, will allow the government to lift its veto over the enlargement negotiations.
Saturday’s vote will allow the two countries to sign a protocol, as well as to unlock EU talks with Albania, another Balkan candidate. The deal may allow North Macedonia to hold its first intergovernmental conference with the EU — the formal start of negotiations — “within the next few days,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told lawmakers in Skopje.
The U.S. State Department welcomed the move. “We recognize the difficult tradeoffs considered in this compromise, which acknowledges and respects North Macedonia’s cultural identity and the Macedonian language,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an emailed statement.
The former Yugoslav country has faced multiple hurdles on its path to Western integration, including having to change its official name to resolve a dispute with neighboring Greece before joining NATO in 2020.
Still, the new deal has sparked tensions in North Macedonia, where thousands of people have rallied for two weeks as the opposition says the EU proposal doesn’t guarantee recognition of the country’s language and national identity. Both the government in Skopje and EU officials have rejected these claims, while a clash between protesters and police left dozens hurt last week.
Kovacevski’s speech on Thursday was accompanied by chants by the opposition. Lawmakers held posters with the sign “No!” and blew vuvuzelas as he spoke, while thousands protested outside the parliament building. Ten people were detained late Thursday for throwing objects at the building and trying to remove its fence.
One of Bulgaria’s conditions is that North Macedonia changes its constitution to mention Bulgarian nationals along with other peoples before the start of talks is formally completed. The ruling coalition in Skopje doesn’t yet have the majority for the change. The EU should monitor the process, as well as the implementation of a friendship agreement signed in 2017.
The EU-backed deal seeks to alleviate doubts among Balkan countries that the bloc is still committed to enlargement amid concern of growing Russian influence in the region. Their worries that they will be left behind have only intensified since the start of war in Ukraine, which prompted EU leaders to advance a decision to approve both Ukraine and Moldova as membership candidates.
