Zaharieva: Bulgaria and Greece are ready to help Macedonia with its reforms


Bulgaria and Greece are ready to help Macedonia to implement the reforms necessary for starting the EU accession talks, said the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Ekaterina Zaharieva, in an interview for the Bulgarian radio “Darik.”

-For a start, it is necessary to build trust between the political leaderships. They have a long way to go and many reforms to be done in order for to the talks about EU accession to start. We talked with Greece and we are ready to send experts to help the government to implement the necessary reforms – said Zaharieva.

When asked whether Macedonia can join EU under this name, Zaharieva was certain that it would not be possible and that a solution for the name has to be found, regarding which, both sides, Macedonia and Greece, are having intense negotiations.

She stressed that among some of the political leaders in the country there is a prevailing aggressive anti-Bulgarian policy with “extremely strong anti-Bulgarian messages” especially in the last few months with the campaign for the local elections. But, the citizens of Macedonia with their votes have clearly shown that they are against these policies – said Zaharieva.

She concluded that the new Macedonian government has a very clear plan for reforms and there are plans for a joint session with the Bulgarian government in near future.