N.Macedonia says EU candidacy held ‘hostage’ by Bulgaria

• Bulgaria is holding his country’s long-held dream of joining the EU “hostage”.
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a brief visit to the Balkans.
• The two countries have long sparred over history and language.

North Macedonia’s prime minister said on Saturday that neighboring Bulgaria is holding his country’s long-held dream of joining the EU “hostage.”

Speaking alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a brief visit to the Balkans, Dimitar Kovacevski told reporters that “one EU member state… is holding two candidate countries, North Macedonia and Albania, as hostages on the path to EU integration.”

His remarks were a clear reference to Bulgaria, which blocked North Macedonia’s ambition to begin European Union accession talks in 2020.

The two countries have long sparred over history and language, including Bulgaria’s claim that the Macedonian language is a dialect of Bulgarian.

They both also lay claim to certain historical events and figures, mainly from the Ottoman era.

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Scholz said his country was “serious about EU integration for the states in the region and of course that applies particularly to North Macedonia”.

Later on Saturday Scholz travelled to Sofia where he met his Bulgarian counterpart Kiril Petkov.

Petkov stated that Bulgaria would look into how the EU accession process could be used to help the Bulgarian minority in North Macedonia.

Scholz stated following his meeting with Petkov that “we can be confident of progress,” adding that the “many objections that have built up between the two sides over the years must be cleared away.”

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