Bulgarian interim Prime Minister Stefan Janev said that he is not in a position to make concessions or to compromise his position with regard to Macedonia, and that the country will not approve the EU negotiating framework with Macedonia in its current form.

The comment comes a day ahead of the expected visit by Zoran Zaev to Sofia, where he is trying to plead with Bulgaria to lift its veto of Macedonia’s EU accession talks. Bulgaria will hold elections on July 11th and until then, including during the June 22nd European Council, it will be led by a caretaker Government that has no mandate in the matter.

I don’t think that Bulgaria is in a position to make concessions or to compromise its position. Not just this interim Government, but the Parliament itself, in 2019, clearly instructed in what will be the Bulgarian national position, Janev said. The Bulgarian Parliament unanimously adopted a position that Macedonia must accept a long list of concessions in the area of its national identity and history before it will be allowed to open EU accession talks.