President Rosen Plevneliev welcomes the decision by the EU General Affairs Council in Brussels to postpone adoption of a date for the start of negotiations about Macedonia’s accession to the European Union.

“I welcome the decision by the Council of EU ministers – it is a wise, sound and fair decision, given the stated problems and heeding the voice of the EU member states in the region, who know the situation and have a point to make,” the head of state told journalists.

The decision by the Council, apart from pointing out the problems, will assist also in finding solutions to them. The President reiterated that Bulgaria will judge the goodwill of Macedonia “only by its actions”.

“Today we have no problems with the people in Macedonia and our people-to-people contacts are perfect,” President Plevneliev said. “We want to support the efforts of the government in Skopje and we are reaching out our hand, and nothing stands in our way – we have a clear goal, let us achieve it together,” he said. He underlined that “good neighbourliness cannot be ignored in the European Union.”

Bulgaria is reaching out its hand and we are ready for joint actions,” President Plevneliev emphasised.