North Macedonia hits out at Brussels, says EU accession like 'Waiting for Godot'

euronews (in English)

Both North Macedonia's president and prime minister slammed stumbling blocks put in place by Brussels over a dispute with Bulgaria over Balkan history, language and culture.

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00:00North Macedonia's prime minister has reacted angrily to reports that his country's European

00:07Union accession bid has hit a new hurdle because of a dispute with Bulgaria.

00:12Prime Minister Hristian Mikoski said the EU was trying to dictate what his country should

00:17do and suggested he wouldn't accept any further delay to membership talks.

00:22Those comments follow reports that EU ambassadors in Brussels decided to push ahead with Albania's

00:28EU accession process independently of North Macedonia's.

00:33The EU started membership talks with the two Balkan countries in 2022, but North Macedonia's

00:39bid was delayed by a dispute with Bulgaria over Balkan history, language and culture.

00:45To break the impasse, the previous government in Skopje accepted a Bulgarian demand to insert

00:50in North Macedonia's constitution a reference to a Bulgarian ethnic minority.

00:56And in her speech at the UN General Assembly, North Macedonia's President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova

01:02said the path to EU membership was like waiting for Godot.

01:26The country's EU path was also blocked for years by Greece over another dispute over

01:35history and heritage.

01:37It was settled in 2018 after North Macedonia changed its name from the previous Macedonia.

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