Ned Price, State Department spokesperson, was asked by The Pavlovic Today about the potential impact on North Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic integration process if the country fails to implement a change to its preamble to the Constitution to include ethnic Bulgarians as a constituent group.
Price emphasized that this is a matter for North Macedonia and the European Union to address, rather than the United States.”Of course, these decisions are ones that our partners on the other side of the Atlantic are going to have to make,” noted Price.
State Department spokesperson emphasized that the US is a partner to North Macedonia and supports their aspirations for further European integration.
“We want to support the aspirations of the people of North Macedonia for that further European integration. It is similar to the approach that we’ve taken to Georgia and a number of other countries over the course of several decades. We want to continue to be a partner,” Price said.
Ultimately, Price emphasized that decisions regarding the change to the Constitution to include ethnic Bulgarians will need to be made in North Macedonia and in Brussels.
Press conference by Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, following his meeting with Dimitar Kovacevski, Prime Minister of North Macedonia. [Photo ©NATO]
In a recent interview with The Pavlovic Today, US Deputy Assistant Secretary Gabriel Escobar praised North Macedonia as a model democratic civic state due to its peaceful coexistence between ethnic communities. However, he emphasized the urgent need for the country to implement the agreements on working on the constitutional changes, specifically the EU-brokered agreement to acknowledge ethnic Bulgarians as a constituent ethnic group in the preamble of the Constitution.
Escobar believes that North Macedonia has a good track record of protecting minority rights, but the implementation of this agreement will fully open the door for their European integration, as the country is reform-minded and can quickly close chapters.
