Former Macedonian Prime Minister and Special Representative in the negotiations with Bulgaria Vlado Buckovski, in an interview with the Bulgarian television “Nova”, said that an agreement is possible between Skopje and Sofia during the French EU presidency, but that there are groups in both countries that are working against finding a compromise.

Bulgaria and Macedonia can reach an agreement during the French presidency of the European Union. The climate for negotiations is better now. There is a chance for a deal next month. There are groups in Sofia and Skopje that are working against compromise and agreement between our two countries, says Buckovski.

According to him, the five Russian diplomats expelled from Skopje became increasingly aggressive in their attempts to block the agreement between Macedonia and Bulgaria, as well as Skopje’s desire to start EU membership talks.

Regarding the results of the census in Macedonia, Buckovski points out that the difference in the issued passports and the number of those who declared themselves as Bulgarians is due to the fact that most passports were taken for economic reasons and those people are no longer in the country.

I believe that everyone who wanted to declare themselves as Bulgarians during the census did so, Buckovski said.