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Deputy Prime Minister Krassimir Karakachanov has threatened that Bulgaria will block North Macedonia’s first intergovernmental conference with the European Union if no agreement is reached on controversial historical issues. He told Macedonian TV 24 that Skopje does not want to have a real dialogue, avoiding meetings of the bilateral historical commission and, in particular, resolving the Gotse Delchev dispute.
“Already last November, ten months ago, the work of the intergovernmental commission, which is supposed to consider historical problems, was stopped. This is reason enough for Bulgaria to raise this issue very clearly. At least a hundred have said it. times in the last years. 10 months that if no agreement is reached on these issues, Bulgaria will oppose scheduling the first ambassadors conference until the issues are clarified. This is Bulgaria’s position and it is very clear in Skopje “.Karakachanov said after a technical meeting in Brussels yesterday on the negotiating framework to be used for the dialogue with North Macedonia and Albania.
According to him, almost half a year after the EU countries approved the start of negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania, no one can influence Bulgaria to change this decision, as only she makes commitments.
North Macedonia expects the first intergovernmental conference to take place at the end of the year.
Keep in mind
Karakachanov regularly threatens Skopje, but Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva follow a more moderate demeanor and tone. Therefore, it is not clear at the moment whether this particular threat to Karakachanov will be formalized as a Bulgarian position.
The bilateral historical commission met for the last time in November last year. According to the Bulgarian side, the decision to freeze his job belongs to the Macedonians, who were awaiting early elections in the country. They were followed by the formation of a coalition government headed by Social Democratic leader Zoran Zaev, who reached agreements with Bulgaria and Greece and succeeded in transferring Skopje to the EU.
The historic commission was expected to meet this month, but it is unclear if this will happen.
“You changed your flag and your name, but you are unfair to us”
Karakachanov commented that Skopje remains unfair to Bulgaria and is ready for big concessions to Greece.
“You agreed to change your flag, change your name. And with the country that has always helped (North) Macedonia, you think it can be done incorrectly. Remember that in international relations there must be reciprocity and when Bulgaria behaves like a Gentleman, when Bulgaria behaves correctly, when it helps Macedonia, when it was the first country to recognize Macedonia, it should have a good reciprocal attitude on the other side. “
Anti-Bulgarian circles in Skopje immediately accepted such blunt statements from Karakachanov that they used them to intensify the rhetoric towards Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian position
The Commission was created under the 2017 Neighborhood Agreement, but its work has stalled and has so far not served its purpose.
Representatives of North Macedonia on the commission have also begun to challenge the earlier compromise on Tsar Samuel as the Bulgarian ruler.
At the moment, the commission cannot reach an agreement on the historical figure of Gotse Delchev.
The period of World War II is yet to come, which is shaping up to be the most controversial.
Regarding the period after 1941 and whether Macedonia existed, Dragi Georgiev said that a lot had been written about these periods in the historiographies of the two countries and that this topic was not on the agenda.
Bulgaria claims that it will not be a brake on Macedonia’s path to the European Union, but a few weeks ago the government reaffirmed its willingness to react during the negotiation process if controversial historical issues are not clarified and hate speech against Sofia continues.
Thus, for more than three years after the contract was signed, Bulgaria has not fulfilled it content. The Bulgarian government has not taken advantage of the situation in North Macedonia to achieve the desired result in the progress of bilateral relations.
Instead, government officials periodically fueled senseless media wars in Skopje, which have been used successfully by opponents of rapprochement and dispute resolution between the two countries.
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