The Zaev Government bet it all on the issue of EU integration, refused to include the opposition in the process, and now suffered a complete failure, said pollster and commentator Vladimir Bozinovski in an interview with TV24.

The veto from Bulgaria is a failure that Zaev and Dimitrov need to own up to. They themselves put all their chips on this issue and refused to set red lines in the talks together with the opposition. Since 2018, Dimitrov and Zaev made 7 or 8 announcement that the date to open EU accession talks has been secured. And here we are the end of 2020, with no date in sight. Is this the failure of the whole of Macedonia? No, it’s a defeat for Zaev and Dimitrov, who chose to carry the entire burden of the negotiations by themselves. They wanted all the glory for themselves and they can’t try to share the blame, Bozinovski said.

Only after the utter failure, Zaev is now agreeing to hold a meeting with VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski to discuss the dispute with Bulgaria. Dimitrov even ignored several calls to appear before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament.