English
The goal of Bulgaria with the dispute with Macedonia is to create a new, artificial Macedonian identity that would be seen as based on Bulgarian roots, said Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski in an Alsat TV interview, after the Bulgarian representatives in the European Parliament began to openly denounce the mentioning of the Macedonian identity in the latest progress report.
Mickoski was asked about the recent statement from Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georgiev, who said that his country won’t raise any new demands after Macedonia amends its Constitution, and he noted that Georgiev was saying something different a few months ago.
So the question is who do we trust? The same Minister speaking two or three months ago, the current Minsiter or some future Minister who will say something else to fit his political goals? The issue is clear, it doesn’t take too much political experience to understand it, Mickoski said.
Bulgarian officials sometimes say that after Macedonia changes its Constitution to include the Bulgarian minority they will not raise “new demands” but have also clarified that they consider changes to the Macedonian historical narrative and other lesser demands as “old demands” that were already accepted by the SDSM – DUI led Government.
According to Prime Minister Mickoski, this Government, led by Dimitar Kovacevski, Bujar Osmani, Bojan Maricic and President Stevo Pendarovski, was agreeing to the harmful Bulgarian demands in an attempt to cling on to power. These officials hoped that they can translate their acceptance of the Bulgarian demands into support from foreign circles that would keep them in office.
Unfortunately, the so-called French Proposal is not in the interest of all the citizens of Macedonia – whether they are Macedonians, Albanians. All of us, regardless of our ethnic belonging and religion, have the common goal to be part of the European family. This path has obstacles on it and I must say has become nearly impossible, Mickoski said in an interview with the primarily Albanian language television.
