Skopje, 28 June 2023 (MIA) - Our path to Europe is clear - the Negotiating Framework that we adopted last year. In this regard, new demands from Bulgaria are not allowed, said President Stevo Pendarovski on Wednesday.

President Pendarovski was quizzed by reporters over the statements of Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev who said that the constitutional amendments are only the preliminary prerequisite for the accession negotiations, with other conditions to follow.

Pendarovski said he briefly met with Radev during his visit to Podgorica earlier in the week, but failed to speak on the topic, noting that the Bulgarian President's statement "recycles the old Bulgarian story".

"Today, the EU is celebrating 30 years of the Copenhagen Criteria, which represents the main set of criteria for Union accession. Therefore, I believe Bulgaria is the last country in the EU that should lecture us on what the Copenhagen Criteria represent, considering that Bulgaria is a member-state of the Council of Europe that has shown the least respect to the decisions of the European Human Rights Court. We know very well what the Copenhagen Criteria represent and I am certain that Macedonia is the best prepared candidate in the history of the EU at the time of the start of accession negotiations," said Pendarovski. 

Photo: MIA