If Macedonia is asked to amend its Constitution and include the Bulgarians in it, why shouldn’t we ask Bulgari to do the same and include Macedonians in its Constitution, asked Aleksandar Krzalovski, director of the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation.

This demand is currently raised by Bulgaria as a key step before it will allow Macedonia to open its EU accession talks. Zoran Zaev and his coalition partner DUI already agreed to the demand, but ask for more time, while VMRO-DPMNE demands reciprocity. Macedonia has a practice of naming the minorities in its Constitution, while Bulgaria names only the Bulgarian nation in the Constitution, which includes a strict clause for the protection of the national and state integrity that is often used to prevent the establishment of minority organizations – especially for ethnic Macedonians.

This should not be an issue for us, we have done it in the past, but why shouldn’t Bulgaria do the same? It can’t just say that it’s not standard practice in the Bulgarian Constitution – it’s nt part of our Constitution either. Why wouldn’t Bulgarians make a similar change to their Constitution by means of reciprocity. In fact, they should be the first to do so, if it’s part of European practice, Krzalovski said in an interview with Sitel TV.