English
Bulgarian intelligence services are staging a coordinated attack on Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, by spreading a rumor that he has considered obtaining a Bulgarian citizenship.
The report was published in an obscure website called Lupa.bg, which claims that in 2008 Mickoski expressed interest in a Bulgarian passport in conversation with consul Vencislav Cvetanov. This unverified report was quickly picked up by officials of the SDSM party in Macedonia, eager to share some of the blame for the numerous concessions that party made to Bulgaria with their political opponents.
The reports that Hristijan Mickoski allegedly sought a Bulgarian passport are the product of the Bulgarian propaganda against Macedonia and its paid servants within our country. These lies are result of the simple truth – that the only and strongest obstacle to the Bulgarian claims and denunciations of Macedonia are VMRO-DPMNE and Hristijan Mickoski. The picture is crystal clear – on one side we have Venko Filipce who wants the Bulgarians included in our Constitution without any guarantees for the Macedonian identity and language. On the other side is Hristijan Mickoski, who stopped the over-reaching demands and defends the national identity and the Macedonian language. That is why Bulgarian propaganda is engaged with full force and is using all its supporters in an attempt to undermine the Macedonian positions. The public should scrutinize all reports coming from these structures in the media, said VMRO-DPMNE in a statement.
The move comes after the drama in the European Parliament where Macedonia was able to secure a draft progress report that acknowledged the Macedonian national identity and language and have it adopted at the AFET committee level. Strong Bulgarian pressure inside the Parliament led to the deletion of the references in the final version of the report, in the process proving to the members of the Parliament that Bulgaria has far broader claims on Macedonia that its initial request that the Bulgarian minority is listed in the Macedonian Parliament.
