July 18 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia will start European Union accession talks on July 19, after the country's parliament endorsed a proposal which removes a Bulgarian veto on membership talks, North Macedonia's prime minister Dimitar Kovacevski said.
The country will hold on Tuesday an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in Brussels, which will mark the launch of negotiations to join the bloc, Kovacevski said in a press release on Saturday.
North Macedonia's assembly voted in favour of French president Emmanuel Macron's proposal to unblock the start of EU accession talks earlier on Saturday, a video of the session streamed on the parliament's YouTube channel shows. The proposal was backed by 68 members of parliament in the 120 seat parliament.
Under the proposal, North Macedonia has to acknowledge in its constitution a Bulgarian minority and banish hate speech against Bulgaria.
The deal also unblocks Albania's start of EU membership negotiations, as the two countries are coupled with their bids for EU accession.
North Macedonia and Albania have held EU candidate status for 17 years and received the green light to begin membership negotiations in 2020.