North Macedonia’s parliament is expected to debate the proposal next week.

“We will never, never accept this treaty because it is contrary of our national interest and it is contrary to our identity,” said Hristijan Mickoski, leader of the largest opposition party VMRO-DPMNE, which supports the protest.

Protester Acka Stanisheva likewise is against the compromise agreement, saying it is not a European deal but a Bulgarian proposal.

“The government should not accept this proposition,” Stanisheva told Reuters.

Political analyst Petar Arsovski thinks the proposal is both good and bad for North Macedonia.

“It is good in a sense that it does offer start of membership talks but the downside is that there is no principle of reciprocity and Bulgaria is not obliged to recognise Macedonian minority.”

He said the framework for bilateral talks would enable the two countries to resolve all national issues.

North Macedonia was the only former Yugoslav Republic to leave the federation peacefully. But in 2001 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) pulled North Macedonia from the brink of civil war during an ethnic Albanian insurgency and promised faster integration into the EU and NATO.

The Balkan country joined NATO in 2020, but has still not opened accession talks with the EU.

source