EU member Bulgaria and North Macedonia on Sunday signed a deal in Sofia opening the way for European Union membership talks for the tiny Balkan nation and its Albanian neighbour. North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski announced Saturday that Skopje had reached a compromise with Bulgaria in a long-running dispute, allowing them to start the membership talks. EU member Bulgaria had until recently blocked any progress for such talks because of a dispute between the countries over linguistic and historical issues. The dispute also stalled Albania’s bid to join the 27-nation bloc. But last month the Bulgarian parliament agreed to lift its veto in exchange for EU guarantees that North Macedonia will meet certain demands on contentious issues. North Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani on Sunday hailed the “historic opportunity” at the signing ceremony for his country to start EU membership talks.