The negotiations on the name dispute will continue after the New Year and Christmas holidays, and in the meantime no developments are expected, said Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Dimitrov at a joint press conference with Hungarian Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó.
“The next meeting has been arranged after the holidays in January, so there should be no special event during the holidays. The stage is set, the process has started, the dynamic has been established, but there is nothing new which will happen during the holidays”, said Dimitrov said at a joint press conference with his Hungarian counterpart, Péter Szijjártó, who is currently visiting Macedonia.
Regarding the statement made by Bulgarian Vice President Iliana Iotova, that 70,000 Macedonians who received Bulgarian passports are Bulgarians, Dimitrov said she has not seen her, but said that this additionally points to the need for faster integration into the EU.
“The real solution how to handle our citizens applying for passports in other countries is for member states to increase the attractiveness of a Macedonian passport. A real long-term solution how to face this challenge, is making the passport of the Republic of Macedonia an EU member state. That is why it is very important that we do everything we can to use the opportunity that is being drawn slowly for 2018”, said Foreign Minister Dimitrov.
