Skopje, 4 January 2022 (MIA) – Preparations for the Parliament session, due on Jan. 13, where French Ambassador Cyrille Baumgartner is expected to present the priorities of the French EU presidency were discussed at Tuesday’s session of the National EU Integration Council. In addition to Ambassador Baumgartner, the Jan. 13 session will also be attended by German Ambassador Anke Holstein, Czech Ambassador Miroslav Toman, and EU Ambassador David Geer, it has been announced. National EU Integration Council President Aleksandar Nikoloski criticized the Foreign Ministry for not reacting to the comments of Slavi Trifonov, leader of the Bulgarian party “There is Such People, after conditioning the opening of North Macedonia’s EU talks with the US deciding to revoke visas for Bulgarian citizens and with Bulgaria being admitted to the Schengen zone. “It is unacceptable not to react. Had there been similar, offensive comments from, let’s say, the SDSM leader or the DUI leader, for the Bulgarian people, an ambassador in Sofia, who unfortunately is yet to be appointed, would have been summoned and presented with a note of protest by the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry,” said Nikoloski, who is a VMRO-DPMNE MP. VMRO-DPMNE, he stressed, will not support a solution with Sofia that would cross the red lines defined in the Parliament-adopted resolution. SDSM MP Zekir Ramchilovikj, National EU Integration Council member, said Trifonov’s comments are “his personal views and wishes and the country’s negotiations with the EU doesn’t depend on them.” “I believe in what the new Bulgarian PM has said, that things will take a different turn,” he said voicing hopes that North Macedonia would be approved to start negotiating with the bloc soon. Ramchilovikj reiterated expectations that Bulgaria’s demands will not be included in Skopje’s EU negotiating framework and will not be considered a condition on whether the country to be green lit to open negotiations. According to him, North Macedonia and Albania on their EU accession path shouldn’t be decoupled because “it will send the wrong message across the entire region.”