Bulgarian lawmakers vote to unblock N Macedonia’s EU bid

By VALENTINA PETROVA and STEPHEN MCGRATH
Associated Press

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s parliament has voted to lift a veto that has long blocked European Union membership negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania. The move raises fresh hopes that the bloc can now press on with its expansion plans in the Western Balkans amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. France made last-ditch efforts this week to resolve an ethnic and cultural dispute between Bulgaria and North Macedonia that was the source of the veto. Under the French proposal, North Macedonia would have to recognize in the preamble of its constitution that Bulgarians are one of the country’s constitutive ethnicities. North Macedonia made it clear at a Thursday summit of EU leaders that the French proposal was “unacceptable.”