Sofia: No Guarantees, Only "Political Readiness" - Mucunski Returns Admitting the Positions Are "Very Far Apart"

Macedonia wants guarantees that no new blockade will follow the constitutional changes. Sofia replies that there are no guarantees and that the best guarantee is - to deliver what's written in the negotiating framework. That, in one sentence, is the outcome of Foreign Minister Timčo Mucunski's meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart Velislava Petrova-Chamova in Sofia.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the ministerial conference on Corridor 8. Mucunski described it as constructive and in a "positive spirit", but he didn't put make-up on the substance. "I have to be absolutely transparent and clear, it's not that we solved any substantive issue, the positions are still very far apart," he said.

Mistrust with a history

The Macedonian minister also explained why Skopje wants guarantees. "We are a country that over the years has constantly faced bilateral demands, and as soon as one bilateral demand was closed, a new one would open. So that mistrust exists," Mucunski said. In his view, issues tied to language, identity, history and culture must not weigh down the European path.

Petrova-Chamova didn't move a millimetre from the 2022 framework. Bulgaria, she says, supports Macedonia's European perspective but expects the commitments made to be fulfilled, the constitutional changes among them. "No member state can give guarantees to any other candidate country for the continuation of the process. But what it can give is the political readiness to stick to the commitments made," she said. And she added that fulfilling the commitments is "the most direct and guaranteed path".

A guarantee without a guarantee

Break the offer down: there are no guarantees, but there is a guaranteed path - if you do what's asked. Macedonia has been hearing that since 2022, and Mucunski is now saying publicly that the problem isn't one point in the agreement, but trust that no next point will come after it.

The two ministers agreed to continue the dialogue. Dialogue is always better than silence. But when one side says "no guarantees" and the other says "no trust", what exactly will they talk about at the next meeting?