2022 North Macedonia protests

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
2022 North Macedonia protests
Star of Vergina.
Date2 July 2022 – 11 August 2022
(5 weeks and 5 days)
Location
Skopje,[note 1] North Macedonia
Caused by
  • Bulgaria–North Macedonia bilateral issues[1][2]
  • Rejection of the French proposal by the opposition parties in North Macedonia
  • Anti-Bulgarian sentiment in North Macedonia
  • Euroscepticism in North Macedonia[3]
  • Pro-Russian and pro-Serbian sentiments in North Macedonia[4][5][6]
GoalsConvince the
Government of North Macedonia to reject the French proposal.
Resulted inFrench proposal approved by the Assembly of North Macedonia.
Casualties
Injuries
  • 10 protesters
  • 54 policemen[7][8]
Charged23 (Per the Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Macedonia)

In early July 2022, protests began in Skopje, North Macedonia.[9] The protests were triggered by Bulgaria–North Macedonia negotiations surrounding the accession of the latter into the European Union.[10]

Background

North Macedonia has been a candidate to join the European Union (EU) since 2005. The use of the country name "Macedonia" was the object of a dispute with neighbouring Greece between 1991 and 2019, resulting in a Greek veto against EU and NATO accession talks, which lasted from 2008 to 2019. After the issue was resolved with the 2018 Prespa Agreement, the EU gave its formal approval to begin accession talks in March 2020. However, in November 2020, Bulgaria refused to approve the European Union's negotiation framework for North Macedonia, thereby blocking the start of the country's negotiations with the EU, having prior made demands for North Macedonia to fulfil the 2017 Bulgarian-Macedonian Friendship Treaty. The conclusion of the treaty played a decisive role in Bulgaria's agreement to approve North Macedonia's NATO candidacy, and its implementation is considered by it a key to the negotiation process with the EU. North Macedonia and Bulgaria have very complicated relations, and the Bulgarian factor is known in Macedonian politics as "B-complex".[11] Against this background, the main pretension of Sofia to Skopje today is to admit to sharing a common history with Bulgaria until the end of the WWII, and the separation of the Macedonian language and nation in post-WWII Yugoslavia, but on a profoundly anti-Bulgarian basis.[12] The constitution of North Macedonia has recognized the Albanian, Turkish, Vlach, Serbian, Roma, Bosniak and other peoples, but the protesters insist that at the behest of Sofia, if Bulgarians would be recognized, it also formally would recognize that the Macedonian nation and language have Bulgarian roots and would undermine the Macedonian national identity.[13]

In June 2022, France, at the end of its rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union, sent a proposal (known as the French proposal) for the negotiation framework of North Macedonia, as well as to serve as a compromise deal between North Macedonia and Bulgaria.[14][15]

The French proposal

President Macron's proposal included several demands for North Macedonia:

  • A condition requested by Bulgaria that the protocols relating to the implementation of the 2017 Bulgarian-Macedonian Friendship Treaty, to become part of the European negotiating framework, including historic bilateral issues, directly related to the Bulgarian veto imposed on the EU accession talks with North Macedonia, due to non-performance of the Treaty.[16]
  • A demand for EU to accept issues related to the history, identity and language of the Macedonian people becoming part of the accession process, despite them not being related to the accession criteria, but are directly related to the Bulgarian veto imposed on North Macedonia due to non-performance of the treaty.[16]
  • The proposal also calls for North Macedonia to acknowledge the existence of an ethnic Bulgarian minority and to incorporate it into the country's constitution, which the ruling political parties in North Macedonia have accepted.[17]

The proposal envisages concessions from both sides. Originally, Bulgaria had made far greater demands, touching on language issues and the way North Macedonia records its history. In fact, on 24 June, after heated discussions, the Bulgarian parliament had already approved this proposal.[18] The ruling political coalition parties in North Macedonia have accepted the agreement.[17] North Macedonia's President Pendarovski and the Social Democrat-led government backed the proposed deal too.[19]

Criticism

Former European Union Special Representative Erwan Fouéré criticized the "French proposal" for allegedly incorporating bilateral issues into the accession process.[16] According to him, Bulgaria insists on imposing its own version of events during and after the World War II, and that the proposal undermines the EU's entire accession process.[16]

Political scientist Florian Bieber is also very critical. He described it as a "disaster for EU enlargement".[20][21] According to him, the "French proposal" will encourage extreme nationalists and increase inter-ethnic tensions. He also pointed out the "double standards" with Bulgaria in relation to the treatment of its ethnic Macedonian minority and criticized Bulgaria for insisting that nothing in the accession process can be interpreted as a recognition of the existence of the Macedonian language. According to him, the proposal sets a "dangerous precedent", by accepting bilateral issues in the EU enlargement process and would encourage revisionist nationalist bullying by more powerful neighbours against those outside the EU.[20][21]

Austrian historian Ulf Brunnbauer has similar objections in his criticism of the proposal.[22]

Support

The first foreign minister of the then Republic of Macedonia and professor of international law, Denko Maleski, said that the proposal should be supported and that it can unite North Macedonia and Bulgaria into finding a solution, stressing the importance of France in resolving the problem.[23]

According to Macedonian intellectual Katerina Kolozova, the proposal does not threaten Macedonian identity and language.[24] She also criticised the opposition for what she described as "... the opposition's disinformation campaign against the document succeeded in drawing in supposedly “neutral” and pro-Western civil society organisations, which also raised the banners of “NO to [this] EU” and “NO to an EU that wants to render us Bulgarian”."[24]

Protests

The protests, which started on 2 July, were organized by some

SDSM, asked him "who are you to call us traitors, you who has several passports in your pocket", alluding to the claims that he has Bulgarian citizenship,[40] as many other Macedonians.[41] At the end of the same session, with 68 "yes" votes, the parliament approved draft conclusions, giving the government a mandate to negotiate within the so-called "French proposal".[42]

The approved document includes the condition to stop "hate speech" against all "minorities and communities", and that North Macedonia respect the 2017 Friendship Treaty with Bulgaria.

Vergina star on the street in front of the embassy.[45] Two more protests were organized in front of the embassy again in August with a low turnout.[46]

Reactions

Government of North Macedonia

Macedonian Albanian
, also appealed to put an end to the hatred against Bulgaria. President Pendarovski made a statement that Russian spies from a neighboring country, whose name he refused to mention, were infiltrating North Macedonia. Pendarovski also claimed that these agents were involved in the protests. According to him, Russia finances the opposition in the country.[51]

North Macedonia protest supporters, opposition parties and intellectuals

On June 30 Mickoski claimed that the negotiations will not be per the Copenhagen accession criteria with the "French proposal".[52][53][54] In the same interview to Serbian media in which he stated that he would not support the French proposal, which according to him was "pro-Bulgarian".[55] On July 16, after the parliament approved the so-called "French proposal", Mickoski stated that the opposition was yet to block the negotiation process. He announced that it would not allow the inclusion of Bulgarians in the constitution, for which a qualified majority is required. This is a condition without which at some future point the negotiations process will be suspended.[56]

The leader of the "Lеvica" party Dimitar Apasiev stated that there are alternatives to the EU, one of which is the "Serbian example".[57]

800 intellectuals from North Macedonia stated that by accepting the French proposal, the Macedonian people and language will be bulgarised and become a rootless tree, reduced to an artificial construction dating back to the end of the Second World War. "If this is the condition for entering the EU, then we say no", the address concludes.[58]

Bulgarian views and reactions

Observers in

fall of communism in Europe, which consequence today is the denial of their common cultural and historical heritage until 1945.[62] On the same day, Sofia sent an official note of protest against the numerous manifestations of hatred directed against Bulgaria.[63][64] According to several Bulgarian analysts, the protests in Skopje were about Bulgarianophobia encouraged by Moscow and Belgrade, "from which the Macedonians don't want to give up. It is the basis of their ethnic identity and the Macedonians are afraid that without it, they will cease to exist. In such case they don't need the EU. The battle in Skopje is as much against Bulgaria, as it is against Europe".[65] According to some Bulgarian analysts, belated communism has been swirling on the streets of Skopje, while according to others, this is a neo-fascism.[66][67] According to Bulgarian analyst Nikolay Krastev, the protests were anti-European.[68]

US and EU views and reactions

On July 9, in a joint statement, the

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed France's proposal as based on mutual respect, trust and understanding, calling for the necessary decision to be taken for the country to continue on its European path.[69]

"The future of your country is in the European Union", wrote the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in a tweet in Macedonian language, after she visited Skopje on July 14, during the visit she addressed the Parliament. Von der Leyen's message was met with negative reactions from Macedonian Twitter users, judging by the comments they left. According to her, the acceptance of the French proposal will enable the unblocking of European integration and the opening of the first phase of the accession negotiations, which will represent a positive impulse for the reform process and the progress of North Macedonia.[70] On July 31, the

EU Ambassador in Skopje, David Geer, has warned that if the country does not change its constitution, the negotiation process will stop.[71]

Albanian reactions

On July 14, the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced that he would demand that Albania be separated in its European path from the Macedonian-Bulgarian dispute, if the French proposal doesn't receive a "positive answer" in Skopje.[72]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ A demonstration march was also held in Kumanovo.

References

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  44. ^ The inclusion of the Bulgarian and other nations living on the territory of North Macedonia in the Constitution, the acceleration of the work of the Historical Committee, fighting "hate speech", a celebration of joint historical events and persons, changing content in history and geography books, these are some of the articles in the Protocol that was signed yesterday by the foreign affairs ministers of the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Bulgaria. For more see: Nenad Georgievski, The Protocol from the second meeting between the intergovernmental Macedonian-Bulgarian committee is published. Meta.mk, 18 July 2022 Archived 3 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine.
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