Skopje, 7 October 2021 (MIA) — Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on Thursday said he believed a solution could be found with Bulgaria by the end of December because the duty of politicians was to point the way to the future instead of remaining stuck in the past. “I’d never seen Chancellor [Angela] Merkel and President [Emmanuel] Macron so insistent, so precise, so clear as they were while talking to me and President [Rumen] Radev about the next step in this direction,” he said in response to a reporter asking him if the EU leaders were sincerely trying to help solve the problem. The declaration adopted at the EU–Western Balkans summit in Brdo near Kranj on Wednesday laid out details on enlargement as precise as the ones at the 2003 Thessaloniki summit, PM Zaev said, expressing his gratitude for all the declarations adopted so far in Sofia, Zagreb, and other summits over the past 18 years. But the declaration, if it remained only a piece of paper, would mean nothing to North Macedonia, Albania or the other four countries of the Western Balkans, he said. “This is why it should be turned into action,” Zaev added. "Our main strategic aspiration is full membership in the EU, and the strategic goal of EU foreign policy is the Western Balkans because we are connected, our economy is connected, we depend on each other.” The prime minister then mentioned managing possible refugee crises, which wasn’t possible without North Macedonia, Albania, Greece, and Bulgaria, for example. He also mentioned the power supply chain, saying electricity couldn’t be delivered from Greece to Hungary and Croatia without it passing through the Western Balkans. “We are in Europe and there’s no denying it,” he pointed out. Asked about when North Macedonia would finally receive a date to start EU membership talks, Zaev said the country had received the green light to start talks after 27 EU member states in March 2020 voted for a decision to start negotiations with North Macedonia. Now, he continued, the country was expecting the General Affairs Council in December to adopt the negotiating framework, which stated that the EU’s acquis would be translated into Macedonian, and to schedule the first intergovernmental conference by the end of the year. “These decisions were made last year. This step has been made, and it was a great achievement,” Zaev said. “Now we need to take the next half step, which is the first intergovernmental conference, and then the next half step, which is the screening process and the opening of the chapters.“ “Our successes have been great and no one should underestimate them. Every new step is a huge achievement for us, and should be [considered as such]. Just as the opening and closing of each chapter will be – accelerated by the reforms we’re working on,” he noted. Asked to comment on Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani's statement that the inclusion of Bulgarians in the Constitution “wasn’t an obstacle but we cannot seek reciprocity,” Zaev replied that the inclusion of citizens who considered themselves ethnic Bulgarians into the Constitution had never been, or would ever be, a problem. “Our Constitution recognizes ethnic diversity and it lists Macedonians and Albanians and Serbs and Turks and Roma and Vlachs and Bosniaks and others. Many of the countries joining [the EU], at least from this region and in recent years, let’s say since 2004, have added other ethnic communities into their Constitutions immediately before becoming full EU members,” he said. “Our Constitution is based on the same principle,” he continued. “I’ve said this many times, and other officials have also said it: we have no problem adding Croatians and Montenegrins and Bulgarians and others if they think they should be added. “Still, this of course shouldn’t mean that at the moment we should open the Constitution because of these issues. I believe it will be enough for Bulgaria to ask for this to be done during the negotiation process ahead of us. “They are aware of this, because we have discussed it before, and it is important for everyone to know the Republic of North Macedonia has no problem naming other ethnic communities as an integral part of the Constitution,” the prime minister said. mr/