Bulgaria’s Parliament ratified North Macedonia’s NATO accession protocol

Bulgaria’s Parliament voted on February 20 to approve the ratification of the Republic of North Macedonia’s NATO accession protocol.

The vote was 140 in favour and none against, in the absence of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, which is currently boycotting sittings of Parliament.

Ekaterina Zaharieva, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs: It is in our national interest that our Southwest neighbour be part of shared democratic values by assuming its share of responsibilities and obligations stemming from NATO membership and contributing to Euro-Atlantic security. The Republic of Bulgaria will continue to encourage the Republic of North Macedonia and support the process of continuing the internal reforms that are needed to start negotiations on EU membership.

Gen. Konstantin Popov, Chairman of the Defence Committee at Parliament: With the accession of the Republic of North Macedonia to the North Atlantic Treaty, we secure our southwest border where we will have an ally instead of a neighbour.

Mustafa Karadaya, Chair of the MRF: The ideas for the Euro-Atlantic orientation of the Western Balkans, including Macedonia, have been our commitment since the 1990s. We are convinced that this is the way to build strong and stable Balkans.

Volen Siderov, leader of Ataka, chair of the Unified Patriots PG: I'm going to risk to try reduce f the pathos with which my colleagues are speaking today, because politics is not poetry. In politics, we need to look for specific, practical benefits for each side.

Yulian Angelov, United Patriots, VMRO: Today is important for the Bulgarian national interests and security in general, not only for Bulgaria, but also for the whole of South-Eastern Europe and especially the Western Balkans. Because today you see, the colleagues BSP are not here, in the hall (referring to the absence of the opposition, which is currently boycotting sittings of Parliament).

Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Chair of the GERB Parliamentary Group: When Macedonia and the Balkans have the prospect of NATO - this means that the region becomes much safer. I regret that today a single decision of the BSP leader and the fear in this parliamentary group did not allow all these democratically thinking MPs from the BSP to participate in this debate.

The debate and vote were held in the presence of the Speaker of the Republic of North Macedonia’s Parliament, Talat Xhaferi, who is on an official visit to Sofia.

After the vote, the Speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament Tsveta Karayancheva and her counterpart of the Republic of North Macedonia Talat Xhaferi thanked the MPs.

Tsvetka Karayancheva, Speaker of Parliament: I want to congratulate you on behalf of the Bulgarian Parliament and the Bulgarian people with the signing of the protocol for accession of the Republic of North Macedonia to NATO. With today's ratification, the Bulgarian National Assembly showed the determination of the Bulgarian state to continue to solve the problems of the region and to take care of the collective security - not only in our region but also throughout Europe.