North Macedonia president says Bulgaria is holding EU accession hopes hostage over constitutional changes

North Macedonia's president has accused Bulgaria of holding the country's European Union accession hopes hostage in a dispute over constitutional changes. Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova said the demand to recognise the Bulgarian minority in the constitution was blocking progress on the country's path towards EU membership. She made the comments on the sidelines of the Enlargement Summit in Brussels on Tuesday.

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Siljanovska-Davkova said the proposed amendments had not even passed the first stage in the parliamentary constitutional commission. She also said that around 80% of citizens oppose the changes, arguing that further concessions cannot be imposed without public support. The president said her legitimacy came from voters and questioned how she could promise constitutional change without a domestic mandate.

The dispute centres on a compromise agreed in 2022, when the European Union backed a French-brokered framework to unblock North Macedonia's accession process. Under that arrangement, Skopje agreed to amend its constitution to explicitly include Bulgarians among the country's recognised communities. However, the change requires a two-thirds majority in parliament, which the government has not secured.

The issue matters because North Macedonia has been an EU candidate country since 2005 and has spent years trying to move forward in the enlargement process. Its path has already been shaped by earlier compromises, including the 2018 agreement with Greece that led to the country changing its name from Republic of Macedonia to North Macedonia. That deal removed one major obstacle, but the dispute with Bulgaria has become the latest barrier to progress.

Siljanovska-Davkova said the main obstacle to European integration was not a lack of reforms or compliance with EU requirements, but what she described as a lack of political will among neighbouring countries. North Macedonia is governed by a conservative-led coalition that has held power since mid-2024 and has a solid parliamentary majority. Even so, the constitutional changes remain politically sensitive and have not advanced beyond the early parliamentary stage.

What happens next will depend on whether the government can build enough support in parliament for the required constitutional majority. It is also unclear whether Bulgaria and EU institutions will adjust their positions or continue to press for the agreed changes. For now, the dispute remains a central test of North Macedonia's accession prospects and of the wider EU enlargement process in the western Balkans.

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