EU's Kos in Skopje: 'Don't Waste Time — Write Bulgarians Into the Constitution'

EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos arrived in Skopje on Wednesday with a message that was anything but diplomatic in its packaging: North Macedonia must amend its constitution to include Bulgarians as a recognised community — and there is no more time to waste.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, Kos praised Macedonia's reform progress in unusually warm terms, but made clear that the constitutional amendment — a longstanding Bulgarian demand that has blocked EU accession talks for years — remains the central unresolved issue. Without it, she signalled, the road to Brussels remains blocked.

The Deadlock That Has Lasted for Years

The constitutional amendment demand has been at the heart of the Bulgaria-North Macedonia dispute since Sofia used its EU veto in 2020 to block Skopje's accession talks. Bulgaria insists that Macedonia recognise Bulgarians as a constituent people in its constitution — a demand Macedonian political parties, particularly those representing ethnic Macedonians, have consistently rejected as an attempt to erase Macedonian national identity.

The current government of Prime Minister Mickoski came to power partly on a nationalist platform that was sceptical of making further concessions to Sofia. Yet the arithmetic in parliament is brutal: amending the constitution requires a two-thirds majority — 80 votes — and the ruling coalition does not have those numbers without opposition support.

Praise and Pressure in Equal Measure

Kos's visit was not purely about pressure. She offered Macedonia some of the strongest EU praise the country has received in years, explicitly acknowledging that Skopje has made difficult compromises for the EU path and that the EU owes the country a clearer perspective. She announced that a high-level EU-North Macedonia Intergovernmental Conference is planned — a formal step in the accession process — and confirmed that the EU intends to open new negotiating clusters before the end of the year.

But the subtext was clear: all of that momentum stalls if the constitutional question is not resolved. Kos argued that the geopolitical climate — with Russia's war in Ukraine reshaping European security thinking and the EU suddenly more motivated to integrate the Western Balkans — creates a unique window that may not last.

Whether Kos's visit will be enough to break the political deadlock in Skopje remains to be seen. The opposition SDSM has repeatedly said it will not give votes for constitutional changes without broader political agreement. And with elections on the horizon — potentially as early as 2027 — the window that Kos says is open may be narrower than it appears.

MKNews Hub · Политика · 9 July 2026