Clash between Skopje, Sofia intensifies: from “we will not squat” to “this is blackmail”

Days before Bulgaria announces its official position on whether to stop North Macedonia on its way to the European Union, bilateral relations have been strained and it is less likely that it will find a way out by 10 November, when the Council of General business. .

“If we sit in Macedonia now, we will have problems tomorrow,” he added. Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Krassimir Karakachanov said before bTV.

He hopes that Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, who is on good terms with his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev, will confirm the position.

“Bulgaria wants only one thing: in Skopje not to indoctrinate the population in the anti-Bulgarian spirit, stop the falsification of Bulgarian history and stop the education and anti-Bulgarian behavior of its educational system, its media, its politicians “said Karakachanov.

Bulgaria has officially announced to other member states that it will detain North Macedonia if Skopje does not recognize that its national identity and language have Bulgarian roots.

For the moment, the Macedonian government is reluctant to make such concessions. Although the working groups of the two foreign ministries are in constant contact, no progress is expected. Over the weekend, the Skopje authorities insisted that the Macedonian language and identity had been confirmed, that there could be no dilemma.

“There is no way things are happening with that thinking from the Comintern, with such knocks on the table. They are knocking on many doors, not only in Germany. It is not an honor for them to come to Bulgaria to seek compromise talks after going to Brussels and some European capitals, behind their back to say false and insulting things towards Bulgaria “Karakachanov said.

“The neighborhood agreement is not useless”

Karakachanov rejected the assumption that the Bulgarian rulers, unlike the Greeks, had failed in their relations with Skopje.

According to him, the Neighborhood Agreement between Skopje and Sofia, signed in 2017, is not useless. It’s just that the Macedonian rulers are not keeping it.

Unlike the Bulgarian agreement, which is mostly desirable, the Prespa agreement between Athens and Skopje is full of detail.

“Our history until 1944 is a common history of a nation. The fact that someone, for communist reasons, has decided to create separate nations is not our problem. They can call their language and Esperanto, for science it is a Bulgarian dialect.” ,, added.

Karakachanov regularly takes such firm positions, but they are not always shared by Prime Minister Borissov. This time, however, Borissov signaled that he would adhere to the framework position for North Macedonia, adopted unanimously by parliament last year.

Zoran Zaev is expected to visit Sofia to personally negotiate with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.

Bulgaria will insist that its demands be included in the North Macedonia negotiating framework, and Sofia could block their adoption.

Furthermore, it is increasingly likely that Bulgaria will not agree to host the first intergovernmental conference between North Macedonia and the European Union, which Skopje hopes to hold in November.

Skopje: this is blackmail

However, the Council of Ambassadors of the Republic of North Macedonia considers “Indecent” threat from Bulgaria with possible roadblock to EU membership, if North Macedonia does not recognize that Macedonian identity and language have Bulgarian roots, writes Nezavisen Vesnik, quoted by BTA.

“Ambassadors react: Sofia wants to exchange Macedonian identity, language and historical facts through blackmail and threats”, write in the title “Free press.”

The publications publish a position of the country’s Council of Ambassadors, which says that in recent days the relations and cooperation between the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Bulgaria are unacceptably questioned with an explanatory memorandum sent by Bulgaria to the members of the EU before. at the first intergovernmental conference in December this year, which will effectively launch the country’s negotiations with the EU.

The Council of Ambassadors is surprised that the official Sofia chose this act on the eve of the decisions and positive evaluations expected of our progress and readiness to begin negotiations, the media write.

The position of the ambassadors also states that since 2017 the Republic of North Macedonia has decidedly opened a new page in relations with the agreements signed with the Hellenic Republic and the Republic of Bulgaria and has sincerely started to implement important points in the agreements such as European country. . The Council of Ambassadors expresses its open support to President Stevo Pendarovski and Prime Minister Zoran Zaev for their positions that there will be no concessions or compromises for such conditions and demands, writes Sloboden Pechat.