Foreign Minister Timcho Mucunski said it plainly - „there are no conditions for constitutional changes". The statement came after a meeting with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset. And it is a sentence that says everything about the current state of Macedonia-Bulgaria relations.

„We are not ready to take any step toward constitutional changes", Mucunski said. The reason? „There is a lack of trust and a lack of credibility regarding delivery toward us as a state." In diplomatic language that means: we do not believe Bulgaria will fulfill its promises - even if we fulfill ours.

Context matters. Bilateral negotiations with Bulgaria over constitutional changes have been going on for more than three years. Every time Macedonia agrees to discuss writing Bulgarians into the Constitution, the Bulgarian side adds new conditions. Bulgarian representatives regularly declare that Macedonian identity is „a Bulgarian root" and that the Macedonian language is „a Bulgarian dialect". These are not statements from fringe politicians - they are official positions.

For the Balkans, Mucunski's statement means something concrete: Mickoski's government, for now, will not go through with the constitutional changes. That is a political decision, not a pragmatic one. But the question is - until when? Macedonia's EU integration depends seriously on this process. With every year of blockade, Skopje is falling further behind the region.

One small piece of good news: Berset confirmed that progress has been made in the last 12 months on implementing rulings from Strasbourg, and that next year Macedonia will chair the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. That is not the EU - but it is recognition that Macedonian diplomacy is functional in some areas.

The question that remains: is „no conditions" a tactic to buy time, or a principled stance that will hold? If it's principled - then Macedonia is preparing for a new, possibly long-lasting, pause in EU negotiations. If it's a tactic - then when will the conditions exist? And who will define them?