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© Velko Angelov
The Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Macedonian State Information Agency (MIA) will not take office after the next government meeting.
Zoran Ivanov, who is not a journalist for the state agency but is appointed by the government on its board, will leave after calling Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva and her former Greek counterpart Dora Bakoyannis “frigid bitches.” She refers to the two women on the veto against Macedonia’s talks with the EU on Monday (announced by Zaharieva) and Greece’s veto on NATO in 2008 (announced by Bakoyannis). That is why in his indecent expression, with which he accuses them, he says “Bakoyani 2008, Zaharieva 2020”.
Ivanov does not run the agency, but his position is important. In MIA, the government also appoints the five people who make up the Supervisory Board. The Board of Directors, headed by the Managing Director and the Editor-in-Chief of MIA, is elected, together with the composition of the Board of Directors, by the Supervisory Board.
The Macedonian government’s Facebook page says that the procedure for Ivanov’s removal from the supervisory board began “at the initiative of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani” for “indecent communication and dissemination of hate speech. “.
Bulgaria’s first diplomat condemned the statement, citing as an example that Balkan sexism has no place in the EU.
What happened raised the issue of hate speech against Bulgaria again in the Macedonian media. Although Bulgaria is actually present in a negative way mainly in some comment columns in the main media (and Ivanov’s words were made on social media), the tone against Bulgaria has been deteriorating since Bulgaria recalled the marked condition a year ago for a real start of negotiations. North Macedonia with the EU.
