"The compromise deal is prepared with the participation of all other shadow rapporteurs. I am one of the 7 who has a say. I do not remove anything. I state as rapporteur that compromise 18 does not have the political support and cannot be voted on en bloc. All the texts will be voted on individually.

Kyuchyuk said this in response to accusations that the text is too uncritical of Skopje and does not reflect the violation of the rights of Bulgarians in North Macedonia. MEPs have made 320 amendments to the proposed text, which will be discussed in plenary. Kyuchyuk stressed that the report calls on Skopje to include Bulgarians, Montenegrins and Croats in the constitution of North Macedonia as ethnic minorities.