There is already little hope for Albania and North Macedonia, for membership in the European Union, in the summit that will take place in Brussels on June 23 and 24. The overthrow of the government of the Bulgarian Prime Minister, Kiril Petkov, tonight, seems to have shattered even the few hopes that were created today, for the possible unblocking of the situation, for the start of the official talks on membership in the European Union between Brussels, Tirana and Skopje.

The Bulgarian opposition has voiced support for lifting the veto on North Macedonia, urging the government to call on parliament to take a decision, under a French proposal that offers guarantees to Sofia for further handling of bilateral issues with Skopje.

The leader of the opposition, former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, reiterated through a status on Twitter this afternoon that he supports the French proposal on the issue of North Macedonia and that his party, GERB, “will support this decision if it is voted on.”

The Bulgarian opposition’s decision was hailed as a historic step by Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, who said he expected the government to make the necessary proposal to parliament.

When a “light at the end of the tunnel” was appearing, suddenly, the government of Prime Minister Petkov collapsed in the Assembly today. There were 123 deputies out of 240, who voted to overthrow the government. The new political crisis leaves almost no hope for a turnaround for Bulgaria, regarding the veto on Skopje, tomorrow at the European Council meeting in Brussels. The last-minute chance is only if parliament addresses the issue off the agenda tomorrow.

The day before, the leaders of the three Balkan countries, Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia, questioned their presence at tomorrow’s meeting with the leaders of the European Union, as a sign of disappointment with the delay in the integration process. Tirana and Skopje have long been waiting for the official start of membership talks, blocked by Bulgaria’s veto over some of its claims to Skopje.

Prime Minister Edi Rama received the statement of former Prime Minister Borissov with restrained tones. According to him, “it is too early to be optimistic and too little to change the part of tomorrow’s speech where Bulgaria is criticized as a country that has taken two NATO countries as a hostage, while there is a hot war on the border with Europe ”.

Rama confirmed his participation tomorrow in the meeting in Brussels, a meeting in which he says that “there will not be much to hear about us, but we will seek to hear about the idea of ​​a New European Political Community that we support, “for the Open Balkans that advance the spirit of Europe and for us being taken hostage by Bulgaria that destroys it.”

Albania has long been a double hostage of the situation between Sofia and Skopje, as the decision to open membership talks with Albania has been treated in connection with the decision on North Macedonia. The fall of the Bulgarian government seems to delay EU enlargement plans in the Balkans.

/Klara Ruci/