The Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia, Dimitar Kovaceski, and the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Kiril Petkov, believe that there may soon be an agreement between the two countries to overcome the dispute, which would lead to the lifting of the Bulgarian veto on launching European membership talks for Northern Macedonia, and consequently Albania. 

After the meeting in Sofia of the heads of government of Southeast European countries, NATO members, Petkov said that there are positive signals for overcoming differences on historical personalities and other issues, and that an agreement may be reached soon. 

Petkov said that the acceleration of the integration process in the Western Balkans is dictated by the crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. 

"Northern Macedonia has its place in the family of the European Union and the Bulgarian government wants it to become part of it as soon as possible. We all know that we have some standards that must be met, such as respect for minority rights, and we have discussed this with Kovacevski, while we are also in coordination with European partners. We look forward to and believe that we will soon achieve this. I agree with the assessment that the crisis we currently have, with the war in Ukraine, the Western Balkans should be more stable and the road to greater stability can be achieved with the accession of Northern Macedonia and Albania to the EU. This is clear and we believe that this will be achieved as we have good news for historical issues between the two countries," said Petkov. 

Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski said the process should be accelerated as any delay, he said, could deepen uncertainty, increase citizens' distrust of the EU, but also encourage other forces to increase their influence in the region. 

"EU enlargement is becoming a security policy as delays in this process create additional uncertainty in the region. We have negative tendencies or attempts at deliberate influences of third parties. Postponing the start of talks creates dilemmas that could result in a decrease in citizens' trust in the EU. We remain committed to building good neighbourly relations. Our task remains to focus on promoting values ??and strengthening cooperation," Kovacevski said. 

The Macedonian Prime Minister said that in the meeting with the Prime Ministers of the countries of Southeast Europe, NATO members: the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Zdravko Krivokapic, the Prime Minister of Romania, Nikolae Cuka and the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Kiril Petkov, once again condemned the Russian aggression in Ukraine by supporting Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. 

The meeting focused on coordination between these countries on energy aspects, gas supply through Turkey and Greece in order to reduce dependence on Russian gas, food security but also increase awareness of threats. This is because according to the Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Cuka, "Russian aggression in Ukraine is a threat to general security", and therefore stressed the need to increase trust by strengthening cooperation between these countries and European partners.