Prime Minister Edi Rama has declared that it would be a big mistake if North Macedonia did not accept the proposal of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, regarding the resolution of the impasse with Bulgaria.

During an interview for "Kanal 5" television in Skopje, Rama appealed to the leaders of North Macedonia to accept the proposal that paves the way for the negotiation process for Tirana and Skopje.

"I have continuously followed all the great work that has been done especially in Madrid to provide solutions to the concerns of North Macedonia and I can tell you that President Macron has exercised all his influence by working 48 hours without a break , night and day and thanks to the good relations with him, but also thanks to Bujar Osmani who was extraordinary for his patience, endurance and stubbornness, the new proposal, which is also the final one for you to understand, has come out and I firmly believe that the right time has come and it is absolutely a good idea to implement and open this door", emphasized Rama.

The Prime Minister said during the interview that "I did not enter into the conflict marriage if I can call it that, but the way the Bulgarians treated it was a shame. But at the same time I can tell you what happened in the sense that Bulgaria is a member of the EU, the EU has a way of addressing things that has turned into a kind of hostage taking of countries for the interest of a country or of another and also the spirit of expansion is somewhat distorted. So this is the whole situation. Once again, I would never dare to go public and say what I said to Dimitar Kovacevski. I was the one who told him earlier, that this is a path that leads nowhere during a discussion we had on the way back from Brussels and I told him that it is now okay."

Rama clarified that he is not asking his North Macedonian counterpart to accept this proposal that Albania will face difficulties.

"Albania has now passed the point where it can go alone and of course we will ask to go separately if North Macedonia will not accept it, but I am saying I will accept it because there will not be another proposal, it is final, and you you don't have to stand in front of that door for another 17 years. That door must be opened and in some way everything will be discussed, every point will be debated, every question will be answered in the dialogue between North Macedonia and Bulgaria, so open this door, open it now", underlined Rama.

According to him, this is about choices and now the time has come for Skopje to make the choice.

"My instinct and humble opinion tells me that it would be a big mistake not to accept it. It would be a big mistake because the country can fall far behind and nobody will have the will to go back and imagine bringing all the countries together, so don't do it, just don't do it. Of course 100%. Nothing has changed in this respect, but in the meantime I have to tell you that in this situation EU leaders cannot do more. It is a mechanism in itself that needs to change. They were trapped, they were the ostriches of Bulgaria like us, but of course for us it was a painful experience to be a hostage", declared Rama.

However, Prime Minister Rama said during the interview for Macedonian television that he respects Bulgaria and the Bulgarian people, but expressed the opinion that the issue with North Macedonia should not be part of the path to the EU, according to ATA.

"I think that this remains to be resolved by Bulgaria and North Macedonia. It is not up to me to talk about this because I respect Bulgaria, I respect the Bulgarian people. It's complicated, so it shouldn't be part of the path to the EU, in my opinion. This revolts me, issues between two countries related to history first of all become issues of politics and politics is not to solve history, politics either makes or complicates history, so the more you try to solve something through politics, the more difficult it becomes because it becomes an issue between parties and then it becomes an electoral issue and that is what happened, but in the end these are issues that remain to be resolved between you and it is not for me to say what is right and wrong", said Rama.