Dimitar Kovachevski

Amidst the political fervor preceding the upcoming parliamentary elections in North Macedonia on May 8, VMRO-DPMNE, the main opposition party, has proposed a postponement of constitutional changes regarding the inclusion of Bulgarians. The announcement came from Timco Mucunski, deputy chairman of VMRO-DPMNE, during the presentation of the party's program for the impending elections.

"I am not afraid to say that the Macedonians are our closest people, we have no closer people. And I clearly want to say that we do not want anything from North Macedonia. We have no strings attached and expect nothing from you. We only want to build even closer and better relations. We are not asking you to change your constitution, that is your internal business.

Dimitar Kovachevski, the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, has submitted his resignation along with the entire government in the secretariat of the country's Parliament.

In a pointed exchange, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovachevski, directed a message to Bulgaria, expressing dissatisfaction with the delay in fulfilling commitments related to the infrastructure leading up to the border checkpoints Deve Bair (at Kyustendil) and Klepalo (at Strumyani).

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the Macedonian capital late last night, an hour before the arrival of Russia's No. 1 diplomat, Sergey Lavrov. Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mariya Gabriel also left Skopje on Wednesday evening to avoid attending today's OSCE meeting, which is also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called on North Macedonia to finish the changes to its constitution.

She gave a joint briefing with Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski in Skopje, where she is visiting as part of her tour of the Western Balkans.

The Republic of North Macedonia celebrates its Independence Day today.

A senior US State Department official on Friday voiced hope that North Macedonia will be able to approve politically difficult constitutional changes that would help its bid to join the European Union.

Gabriel Escobar, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Balkan policy, said during talks in the capital Skopje that the US strongly backs the country's EU accession bid.

A political crisis in the Republic of North Macedonia after debates on constitutional changes ended inconclusively and a vote on them was postponed indefinitely. MPs in Skopje debated whether to change their basic law, including whether Bulgarians should be included in the constitution. According to analysts, North Macedonia risks seriously falling behind in negotiations with the EU.

With 70 votes "for", 47 "against" and not a single "abstention", the Macedonian deputies adopted the agenda of their 123rd meeting with a single item - the changes to include Bulgarians in the constitution, which should open the way to negotiations with the European Union.