Bulgaria blocked negotiations for North Macedonia's entry into the European Union

On Tuesday Bulgaria opposed ongoing negotiations for North Macedonia's entry into the European Union effectively blocking the start of talks for the small Balkan country's accession. Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said generically that Bulgaria cannot support the start of North Macedonia's accession negotiations for now due to open disputes over the history and language of the two countries.

Bulgaria said Zahariev after the foreign ministers of the European Union had discussed the subject in an online meeting at this stage, it cannot support the draft of the negotiating framework with the Republic of North Macedonia and the conduct of the first intergovernmental conference. Zaharieva instead opened to negotiations with Albania. The membership talks of North Macedonia and Albania are expected to start in December with an intergovernmental conference.

To try to join the European Union, Macedonia had to agree to add the word North to its official name to resolve a decades-long confrontation with Greece which has its own northern region with that name. France in 2019 had also expressed skepticism about the country's entry into the European Union.

Bulgaria would be seeking guarantees that North Macedonia once it joins the European Union, will not make any claims for a Macedonian speaking minority in Bulgaria. Bulgaria would like official documents of the Union to say that it derives from Bulgarian in order to avoid directly mentioning the Macedonian language.