EU's Michel tells North Macedonia: Amend constitution for accession talks

European Council President Charles Michel has reiterated that North Macedonia must amend its constitution to officially include the Bulgarian minority if it wishes to commence European Union accession negotiations. Michel emphasized that fulfilling the commitments agreed upon in 2022 is the sole requirement.

"As I said a year ago, what has been agreed has been agreed. For the accession negotiation process with North Macedonia to officially open, the commitments undertaken in 2022 must be implemented, and nothing more," Michel stated after meeting with North Macedonia's Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski in Skopje.

The EU accession process for North Macedonia has been largely frozen because Skopje has not yet met the obligations stemming from a European Union proposal presented in the summer of 2022. This proposal mandates a constitutional revision to explicitly recognize the Bulgarian minority residing in the country. The previous center-left government accepted the plan, but the current ruling party, VMRO-DPMNE, led by Mickoski, rejected it while in opposition.

Michel stressed that the EU enlargement process is based on meritocracy. He noted that other candidate countries, such as Montenegro and Albania, have already progressed to different stages of their negotiations. Michel is currently on a tour of the Western Balkans to convey that the EU's enlargement perspective remains active and realistic, provided the region's countries continue necessary reforms.

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As I said a year ago, what has been agreed has been agreed. For the accession negotiation process with North Macedonia to officially open, the commitments undertaken in 2022 must be implemented, and nothing more.