Macedonia Signs Historic Pact with Bulgaria, Eyes The EU and NATO
This article is a post of the series “At A Glance” that refers directly to the original source.
The Republic of Macedonia signed a friendship accord with Bulgaria in a bid to improve ties between the Balkan neighbors and revive efforts to join the European Union and NATO.
The pact is better understood as part of a renewed EU-accession push in the Balkans, where countries including Serbia are bidding to follow Croatia, the most-recent entrant, into the Union. Bulgaria and Macedonia share deep linguistic and cultural bonds, but their past has been fraught with emnity and territorial claims. The friendship accord was the condition set by Sofia to clear the way for further integration of Macedonia.
“This treaty sends a message to EU and NATO that the countries in the region have political leaderships that build bridges, supported by democratic people,” said Prime Minister Zaev in Skopje. “The Balkans deserve a Euro-Atlantic perspective.”
SOURCE: Bloomberg.com
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Bulgaria, is a unitary parliamentary republic. With regard to political and civil freedoms, Bulgaria is 1. Citizens in Bulgaria experience total freedom. The majority of countries in which citizens enjoy expansive civil liberties and political freedoms are representative democracies, in which officials are directly elected by citizens to advocate for their needs and desires. Free countries are often bolstered by healthy economies and high-functioning governments. The head of the government is Rumen Radev.