Bulgaria Calls on North Macedonia for the Rights of Bulgarians: Foreign Ministry with a Position

Bulgaria insists that the Republic of North Macedonia fulfill its commitments to protect the rights of communities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) stated in a position to the media.

Organizations of the Bulgarian community in the Republic of North Macedonia have officially distributed a letter in connection with a revised draft Action Plan for the protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities and communities, presented by the government of the neighboring country, the MFA explains.

Our foreign ministry recalls that this Action Plan is a key document, part of the 2022 European Consensus, the implementation of which will be monitored throughout the entire negotiation process for North Macedonia's future accession to the EU. "When, inevitably, the expected constitutional changes formally recognize Bulgarians as legitimate subjects of civil rights in the neighboring country, the Action Plan will need to guarantee the practical application and protection of these constitutionally guaranteed rights," the MFA points out.

In its position, Bulgarians express concern about the lack of full reflection in the draft Action Plan of their comments and suggestions from December 2025. According to them, the document continues not to adequately address the essential problems faced by the Bulgarian community in North Macedonia and does not offer effective mechanisms for overcoming them. Among these deficits are: systemic institutional pressure, uneven application of laws, severe restrictions on self-determination and freedom of association, lack of protection against discrimination and politically sponsored hate crimes, the MFA informs.

The MFA supports the legitimate demands of the Bulgarian community in the Republic of North Macedonia and calls on the government of the neighboring country to comply with the calls of its citizens and to fulfill all commitments made to the EU and to Bulgaria. We expect North Macedonia to engage sincerely and consistently in the creation of a reliable, effective and sustainable mechanism for the protection of fundamental human rights in order to be able to secure consensus support for its European path in the future, our foreign ministry states.

At the end of March, speaking about the positions of the EU, which insists on the inclusion of Bulgarians in the Constitution as a condition for progress, the Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia Hristijan Mickoski stressed that he has no intention of entering at any cost into such, as he called it, a political adventure.