The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria and North Macedonia, Teodora Gençovska and Bujar Osmani, today at 10:00 a.m. will sign a special bilateral protocol between the two countries, after an intergovernmental commission meeting will be held to finalize this document .

The document will be part of Skopje's negotiating framework for EU membership and contains measures for history, hate speech and culture curricula.

With 68 votes "for", the Assembly of Macedonia yesterday gave the green light to the Government to approve the French proposal.

The decision passed with the votes of the SDSM in power and the Albanian parties from power and the opposition.

With this procedure, after Skopje and Sofia sign a bilateral protocol, Macedonia's negotiating framework with the EU can be approved.

However, in practice, the first intergovernmental conference will not be the real start of negotiations between Skopje and Brussels.

This will only happen when the authorities in Skopje change the Constitution and include Bulgarians on an equal footing with other nationalities, Bulgarian media write.

During the upcoming negotiations, the European Commission will monitor whether the good neighborly issues are respected and Bulgaria will be able to veto at any time.