As a fresh dispute is building up between Macedonia and Bulgaria, after Bulgaria conditioned its support for Macedonia’s EU accession talks with a series of requests aimed against the Macedonian national identity, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov made a PR gesture meant to improve relations.
Borisov posted a video of himself driving a car while listening to an “anti-corona” song recently recorded by Dragan Spasov – Dac and Aleksandar Mitevski.
Only together with discipline we can defeat the virus. Gratitude to all Bulgarian citizens who follow the rules. That’s the only way to go back to normal life. Thanks to Dac and Aleksandar. “North” Macedonia can count on our support!, Borisov wrote as he shared the picture.
Tensions are on the rise between the two countries again, after a statement Bulgaria appended to the European Council conclusions was made public. The statement warns Macedonia that it must upheld the treaty Borisov and Zaev signed in 2017. Bulgaria demands that the joint historic commission resumes its work that was stopped after Macedonian historians would not accept a request to declare Goce Delcev to be a Bulgarian hero. Another highly disputed request is that Macedonia begins referring to the Macedonian language as the “official language of the Republic of North Macedonia” in its EU accession process. The request prompted outrage in Macedonia and was even rejected by Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov, who signed the 2017 treaty.
Spasov and Mitevski responded to Borisov expressing gratitude for the shout out. Their song is a remake of the Italian Communist song “Bella Ciao” with the lyrics applied to the coronavirus epidemic. In a message in which the two performers used “our country” for Macedonia, they said that they will remove all replies with a negative political context.
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