The European Parliament is preparing to adopt a report on North Macedonia’s EU accession progress that will, for the first time, formally recognize the Macedonian identity and language, BGNES reported. This move follows the German Bundestag’s similar resolution from June 15, 2023, which also acknowledged the Macedonian language and identity without any official reaction from Bulgaria.

The recognition is significant because it marks the first time the EP will explicitly acknowledge what North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski refers to as a “centuries-old” identity and language. The report, expected to be adopted in July, was shaped through a consensus led by Austrian Green Party rapporteur Thomas Weitz, who coordinated with seven other “shadow” rapporteurs representing various political groups in the Parliament.

Weitz’s Green Party is closely aligned with the European Free Alliance (EFA), a party coalition that advocates for regional autonomy and minority rights within the EU. EFA includes controversial members such as the banned OMO “Ilinden” - Pirin from Bulgaria and the Macedonian Alliance for European Integration (MAEI) in Albania. MAEI denies the existence of Bulgarians in Albania, despite official census data identifying over 7,000 Bulgarians there.

It’s important to recall that Bulgaria’s Constitutional Court declared OMO “Ilinden” - Pirin unconstitutional, citing its aim to break up Bulgaria’s territorial integrity by carving out an independent Macedonian state in the Pirin region. The chairman of MAEI, Vasil Shterovski, similarly rejects the existence of a Bulgarian minority in Albania, claiming “there are Bulgarians in Albania only in the Bulgarian embassy” and insisting the Macedonian community in Albania has no cultural or historical ties to Bulgaria.

OMO “Ilinden” - Pirin and MAEI are coalition partners with the Green Party, to which rapporteur Thomas Weitz belongs.

An examination of EP records shows that since becoming rapporteur, Weitz has met 36 times with North Macedonian officials but has not engaged with Bulgarian organizations representing minorities in North Macedonia. Moreover, Weitz repeatedly delayed the start of the report negotiations, which eventually began on May 14 instead of the planned late March.

On the day negotiations opened, Weitz invited 15 MEPs from North Macedonia for meetings at the EP, along with the country’s Minister for European Affairs, Orhan Murtezani. He also hosted an official lunch with the “shadow” rapporteurs and Macedonian representatives, excluding Bulgarian MEPs. Bulgarian representatives quickly noticed that North Macedonian MEPs had been given advance access to all texts and proposals. Weitz himself admitted the report had leaked to Macedonian media a week prior, violating EP protocols.

Despite over 40 proposals from Bulgarian MEPs Andrey Kovatchev (GERB) and Ivaylo Valchev (TISP), most were rejected. However, six proposals affirming the recognition of Macedonian language and identity were adopted. Curiously, these recognition texts, submitted by five MEPs across three political groups (EPP, Socialists, Greens), were identical - a fact unexplained at the time of reporting.

This approach by Weitz and fellow rapporteurs sets a precedent for the EP’s recognition of a sovereign state’s identity and language. Yet, questions remain about which Macedonian identity will be recognized, given the 2018 Prespa Agreement with Greece, which defines “Macedonian” strictly as citizenship and acknowledges the Macedonian language as part of the Slavic group, separate from Greek. The EP report omits these clarifications, as well as Bulgaria’s objections to the Macedonian language’s codification only in 1945.

The claim that the Macedonian identity and language are “centuries old” contradicts the position of Prime Minister Mickoski’s VMRO-DPMNE party, which denies any shared history with Bulgaria despite the 2017 Good Neighbor Agreement signed by the two countries. This denial also fuels rejection of Bulgaria’s cultural and historical heritage in North Macedonia.

By recognizing only the Macedonian identity and language, the EP risks exacerbating tensions in North Macedonia, which officially defines itself as a multi-ethnic state with a large Albanian minority. This one-sided recognition ignores the presence of other groups, including Bulgarians, who form part of North Macedonia’s social fabric.

Following the May 14 meeting, Bulgarian MEP Ivaylo Valchev sent a formal complaint to EP President Roberta Metsola, accusing rapporteur Weitz of violating transparency rules and compromising the neutrality of the report. Valchev pointed to undeclared meetings between Weitz and Macedonian officials in Brussels and Skopje, as well as coordinated amendment proposals across political groups that echoed identical demands for recognition of Macedonian language and identity. Valchev also highlighted the premature leaking of the draft report as evidence of external interference in EU processes.

After this complaint, Weitz retroactively registered 31 meetings with North Macedonian officials, having previously disclosed only five. During these meetings, Weitz appeared closely aligned with Prime Minister Mickoski, who claimed only “700-800” Bulgarians remain in North Macedonia and that some 200,000 Macedonians “disappeared” from Bulgaria in the 1960s.

Weitz and Mickoski also share similar stances on Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine. In July 2024, Weitz abstained from voting to increase military aid to Ukraine, citing Austria’s neutrality. North Macedonia, under Mickoski, opposed EU-backed UN resolutions condemning Russia, explaining its position as part of its strategic partnership with the US.

The EP report will be reviewed by the Foreign Affairs Committee on June 4. Insiders consider it unlikely that the recognition of Macedonian identity and language will be removed, given its prior approval by rapporteurs on May 14.

In the end, Bulgaria’s national interests seem to end up lost in institutions, social media posts, or private studios, lacking strong defenders in critical arenas. This absence of effective national representation undermines Bulgaria’s position in this delicate matter.

Source: Georgi Pashkulev, editor-in-chief of BGNES