Washington, 5 May 2022 (MIA) – The United States continues on a bilateral basis to urge both Bulgaria and North Macedonia to resolve bilateral disputes quickly because it’s time the countries to move forward together in the next phase of the EU accession process, the US Department of State has said. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in a phone call last week urged the countries’ EU integration process to be accelerated, MIA’s Washington correspondent reports. Asked by MIA to reveal any details or deadlines, State Department spokesman Ned Price has said that efforts are made to encourage both Bulgaria and North Macedonia to resolve the bilateral disputes quickly. “But obviously we’re not going to detail those conversations,” he responded. The United States, Price stressed, has long been a strong supporter of North Macedonia and Albania’s integration into the EU. “We believe the future of the Western Balkans is squarely with the EU. The enlargement process promotes long-term peace, stability, prosperity throughout the region,” he said. According to the spokesman, the EU’s March 2020 decision to open accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania was a positive step. “These two countries have laid the groundwork, and the time, we believe, is now to move forward together to the next phase in the long and challenging accession process,” Price said. The historic Prespa Agreement, he added, demonstrated that countries in the Western Balkans are capable of doing difficult things, making compromises, and finding solutions, and we’re confident that Bulgaria and North Macedonia will do the same by negotiating their bilateral disputes.