The Bulgarian 24 Chasa paper published a video editorial in which its author Viktor Ivanov notes that Zoran Zaev was desperate for a deal during his visit to Sofia. Zaev met with the interim Government, President Radev and with the leaders of two of the main parties GERB and BSP, but failed to get Bulgaria to lift its veto ahead of the European Council on July 22nd.

After he decided to win elections on the back of Bulgaria, now Zaev was forced to come on his knees to Sofia trying to get a few positive comments he can take back to Skopje. Zaev came to Sofia aware that there is no way he can receive a positive recommendation from President Radev and the interim Government and to open the EU accession talks in our pre-election period. Not only the language, he could have given us Ohrid, and still it would not happen, Ivanov said.

The commentator also mocks the dispute in general, noting that seven million paupers (Bulgarians) are now mocking two million paupers (Macedonians).

The fault lies both in the Macedonian stubbornness and in the Bulgarian foolishness. Bulgaria could have ordered enough vaccines for its citizens and the Macedonian citizens. We could’ve gotten Macedonia with one van of Pfizer vaccines, thanks to the young people eager to travel freely, Ivanov adds.

During the visit, Zaev said that he will have the Bulgarian minority in Macedonia added to the Macedonian Constitution. After the visit, Bulgarian outlets revealed that he was also offering a declaration that the Macedonian and the Bulgarian language are the same, but are merely internationally recognized as separate languages.