Bulgaria supports and will keep on doing this for Macedonia's bid to join the European Union and NATO, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said here Monday after meeting with his visiting Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski.
At a joint press conference, the Bulgarian prime minister also pointed out that the support was not unconditional, but based on clear principles and obligations.
There are EU criteria, which should be fulfilled, and one of them is good neighborly relations, Borisov noted. So the Bulgarian side insists on no tolerance of the language of hatred, nor of groups that create problems in Bulgaria, and a refusal to allow state media to incite hatred.
Apart from neighbors, Bulgaria and Macedonia are also sister nations, which should help each other wherever necessary. For this reason, Bulgaria
categorically supported the lifting of visa requirements for Macedonian nationals and this would be a fact as of Dec. 19, Borisov added.
The Bulgarian prime minister said the two sides concluded that the two countries should look for the details and events uniting rather than dividing them.
Macedonian Prime Minister Gruevski said his country keeps on fulfilling all requirements for the country's accession to the EU."When all the countries in the Balkans become members of the EU,
citizens from our region will be able to travel and work wherever they want," said Gruevski, defining that as a huge step forward. He underlined that history issues should be left to historians, while
the statesmen should focus on the present and future, to work in support of the further Europeanization of both countries and towards a better living standard for all citizens.