EU enlargement under pressure: Bulgaria jeopardises European project for nationalist blackmail against Macedonians
Bulgarian MEPs, with the complicity of the EPP, pressured to delay the report on the EU accession of Macedonia to legitimize their nationalist aims and continue to deny Macedonian identity
Last week, the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee was forced to postpone the vote on the report on European accession for the Republic of Macedonia. After huge Bulgarian pressure towards the European institution and its lawmakers, the voting will be delayed until the end of June.
This is not only a setback to Macedonia’s access to the EU, but also a clear misuse of the EU institutions for state internal nationalist interests. In EFA, we want to raise awareness about these practices. The European project should never be jeopardised for member states nationalist purposes. We trust the EU lawmakers in charge of the developing the text and we want to give value to their work, which should be free from pressure and blackmail.
The Bulgarian state refuses to recognise the Macedonian identity. This is the main problem that has historically affected the relationship between the two communities and that is being used by Bulgaria to block the Republic of Macedonia from starting talks to join the EU. Without concessions from Macedonia, Bulgaria will continue to obstruct its European ambitions
Discrimination against Macedonians in Bulgaria
It is not only the relationship between Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia that is turbulent. European citizens, those belonging to the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria, are also facing state and police harassment and discrimination. EFA felt this harassment too during our visit to Bulgaria last year during the EU elections campaign. Our delegation was closely followed, filmed, and surveilled by the police in an operation that was clearly intended to intimidate. Again and again, we have warned the European institutions about these practices and will continue fighting for the end of discrimination against minorities.
The recently published “Annual report on the Human Rights conditions of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria”, written by the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights “Tolerance”, concludes that Bulgaria does not respect the rights stipulated in the Framework Convention on Minority Rights, Europe’s most comprehensive treaty protecting the rights of national minorities.
The main issue to be addressed is recognition – in this case, recognition of the very existence of the Macedonian minority. Bulgaria keeps refusing to acknowledge Macedonians even though international bodies such as the European Court of Human Rights, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, and the EU Ombudsman have repeatedly recommended them to do so. Without recognition, no rights and no protection can be granted.
It is time for Bulgaria to acknowledge Macedonian identity. This is a fundamental step to protect the rights of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria, and to start a serious and unbiased process for the Republic of Macedonia to join the EU. The construction of the European project cannot continue to be jeopardised by state nationalist interests. It’s time to take a step forward and build a Europe where everyone can participate in equal conditions!
