SDSM: Instead of better negotiating positions, Macedonia is in a worsened position — von der Leyen directed Mickoski towards Bulgaria

SDSM deputy leader Fani Karanfilova Panovska said today at a press conference that, instead of the promised better negotiating positions, Macedonia faces a worsened position and is being directed towards bilateral talks with Bulgaria, the Nacionalno portal reports. According to her, dragging out and blocking the European path is moving EU membership further away.

“The more we drag out the process, the more Macedonia’s position will worsen. And that happened today. Today it happened that Ursula von der Leyen directed Mickoski into bilateral talks with Bulgaria,” Karanfilova Panovska said at the press conference, as quoted by the Nacionalno portal.

According to her, failing to act under the Negotiating Framework, agreed by the 27 EU member states, is leading to a bilateralisation of the process; the Framework sets out Macedonian identity and the steps that must be met for progress in the membership negotiations.

The SDSM deputy leader added that VMRO and Mickoski promised better negotiating positions, the return of the name and the tearing up of the Prespa Agreement, but after coming to power the promises remained unfulfilled and the European process blocked. She also said that they used to call the opposition “traitors,” but after coming to power the Prespa Agreement became for them a “masterpiece of diplomacy.”

Von der Leyen, meanwhile, conveyed the clear message that Macedonia’s place is in the EU, with its language, culture and identity, the Nacionalno portal reports.