The dispute between Bulgaria and North Macedonia was discussed in the latest episode of Balkans Debrief where Ilva Tare interviewed Dimitar Bechev, a Lecturer at Oxford\u2019s School of Global & Area Studies.<\/p>\n
The French Proposal \u2013 is it balanced? <\/strong><\/p>\n Well, we know what Churchill has said about democracy. \u201cDemocracy is the worst system except for other systems\u201d. So the same can be said about this proposal. It’s probably not a good proposal in and of itself. But it’s the best we have right now. And this is where I differ from many people, including colleagues and friends in North Macedonia.<\/p>\n It’s just a pragmatic way to shut down the disputes for the time being and move forward with the negotiations. And I think that’s, it’s going to happen.<\/p>\n Protests in Skopje and their impact<\/strong><\/p>\n It’s very likely there will be a technical government because this is the unspoken constitutional tradition established in Macedonia.<\/p>\n That is a bipartisan administration with ministers from both main parties to oversee the elections. Maybe early elections and in the meantime, the EU accession process will be not going anywhere. But I’m still a cautious optimist, given the dynamics in Skopje that they would actually, the government will survive, and they will adopt the compromise.<\/p>\n The veto as a dangerous precedent in the Enlargement route for the region<\/strong><\/p>\n I know that in an ideal world, the EU must be impartial and just help countries to resolve their differences or facilitate agreement and focus on issues that occur to the Copenhagen criteria, but we don’t live in an ideal world.<\/p>\n Let’s be realistic. Member states dictate the policy and most other member states are not there to push back against it. That was the case with Greece. That’s one thing that Bulgaria saw in the case of Prespa. And that was also, the case with Croatia, having to accommodate Slovenia to an extent maybe the technicalities were not the same.<\/p>\n The bilateral dispute was not in the negotiation framework. But it’s a fact of life and there is no way around it. Now I know there are quite a few proposals that you change the methodology. You have qualified majority voting. That’ll be super if it happens, but I’m skeptical. This is likely to happen.<\/p>\n And finally, there’s one misconception and that’s why the Macedonians lost time. They somehow believe that the big member states will lean on Bulgaria. Bulgaria will just take a step back, but that’s not happening and that’s not realistic. And that really costs, Macedonians quite a bit in the process.<\/p>\n