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Bulgaria MPs Approve Friendship Treaty With Macedonia

January 18, 201814:14
Bulgaria's parliament voted in favour of the ratification of a landmark friendship treaty with neighbouring Macedonia on Thursday.
Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev [left] and his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borissov. Photo: MIA

Bulgaria’s parliament has voted in favour of a historic accord with Macedonia – signed by the prime ministers of Bulgaria and Macedonia in August 2017 – by 186 votes to zero.

The vote in Sofia followed ratification of the treaty by Macedonia’s parliament on Monday, despite a boycott of the vote by Macedonia’s main opposition VMRO DPMNE party.

The friendship treaty, which follows over five years of negotiations between the two neighbours, aims to put the often fraught relationship between Skopje and Sofia on a new footing and bring the two countries closer through an EU-oriented partnership.

Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister, Ekaterina Zaharieva, who attended the vote together with Macedonia’s ambassador to Sofia, Marian Giorchev, thanked both sides for their years of work in support of signing the treaty.

Ratification of the treaty by the Macedonian parliament earlier this week was warmly welcomed by Bulgaria’s leaders, including President Rument Radev and Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.

The agreement recognizes both countries’ territorial integrity, envisages the formation of a commission to resolve their differing views of history, and contains a pledge to protect the rights of the other’s nationals on their soil – and not to interfere in each other’s domestic affairs.

The agreement is seen as firming up Bulgaria’s earlier pledge to help its smaller neighbour join NATO and the EU.

Relations between Skopje and Sofia have often been tense as a result of Bulgaria’s historic claims to Macedonia.

Today, Bulgaria recognizes Macedonia’s statehood, but it has not recognised the existence of a separate Macedonian nationality or language.

The two countries have also accused each other of discriminating against each other’s national minorities in the other country.

Mariya Cheresheva