SOFIA -- The foreign ministers of North Macedonia and Bulgaria have formally signed a bilateral protocol to ease their disputes and move Skopje on to what it hopes will be eventual European Union membership.
The formal signing in Sofia on July 17 by Bulgaria's Teodora Genchovska and North Macedonia's Bujar Osmani came a day after North Macedonia's parliament approved a French-proposed compromise to lift Bulgaria's veto of Skopje's EU accession bid.
Bulgaria, which has been an EU member since 2007, had insisted that North Macedonia formally recognize that its language had Bulgarian roots, acknowledge in its constitution a Bulgarian minority, and renounce what it said was "hate speech" against Bulgaria.
The compromise envisages an effort to amend North Macedonia's constitution to recognize a Bulgarian minority but leaves other previous sticking points to be worked out between Skopje and Sofia. It reportedly leaves open Bulgarian recognition of the Macedonian language.
Nationalists in both countries had opposed the compromise, claiming that their government had conceded too much to the other side.
The dispute between the two countries had underscored regional resentments and risked a further erosion of Balkan faith in the European Union.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Osmani said North Macedonia was now counting on Bulgaria to support its EU drive and expressed hope that a new chapter in relations between the two countries was opening up.
"It is a historic opportunity for us that after 17 years with the status of candidate country, the Republic of North Macedonia has the opportunity to start negotiations as early as tomorrow with the EU, because the last phase of our accession to the EU begins," he said.
After the parliament's acceptance of the compromise, North Macedonia's prime minister, Dimitar Kovachevski, said the country will begin EU accession talks on July 19.
"Finally, after 17 years, we begin the accession negotiation process," he said on Twitter.