Skopje, 14 October 2021 (MIA) – There is room for a solution on all six points of the bilateral protocol between the Republic of North Macedonia and Republic of Bulgaria resulting from the Brdo summit. It would be truly regretful if we miss this opportunity, says Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani. FM Osmani told Telma TV that the Government is engaged in responding to the draft-solutions provided by Sofia but the historical commission is set to meet first. He fails to say whether the protocol would be signed by the end of October or the start of November. “These points should be followed by one more – Bulgaria’s support for the first intergovernmental conference on a specific date. So, we need ‘five plus two’ for an agreement. If this happens, then the agreement would be adopted by an intergovernmental committee and confirmed by both governments. In parallel, there are discussions on the roadmap for the European process and we believe that the solution lies in the Portuguese proposal,” says Osmani. According to him, an agreement will not be reached if the packager doesn’t incorporate a provision on holding the first intergovernmental conference. The FM says 26 EU member-states have supported the start of North Macedonia’s accession negotiations at the recent summits, with Bulgaria being the only one to say ‘no’. Osmani said the Government is committed to reaching a solution with Bulgaria so that the December EU summit results in a decision for the start of accession talks. “If we fail in December, we move on. This is a marathon and we do not have a spare lane to run on. We joined NATO, we will join EU too,” underlines FM Osmani.