“Without reforms North Macedonia cannot open substantive negotiations on accession to the EU. Including Bulgarians and other peoples in the constitution is part of the European offer. It has been accepted by Sofia and Skopje in advance, no one is setting down new conditions,” Ilhan Kyuchyuk, co-president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe said in an interview with BGNES. “An arduous debate on the constitutional changes needs to be started in Macedonian society. As rapporteur of the European Parliament I gave the political time needed so this can take place,” Ilhan Kyuchyuk said and went on to warn that North Macedonia could be separated from Albania in the process of European integration.

• PM Denkov: We expect that North Macedonia will include the Bulgarians in its Constitution
  

Two countries have to be convinced of Bulgaria’s membership of the Schengen area, Ilhan Kyuchyuk stated further. “Austria has a problem with the way the Schengen system is functioning, whereas the Netherlands has specific expectations in the conditions of a caretaker government.”

He also called for Bulgaria to work actively so that “the Black Sea shall be a zone in which NATO and the EU have the say.”