The Bulgarian authorities demand that Macedonia respects the European convention for the protection of human rights. This request from Sofia comes after the parties in Macedonia agreed to make changes to the Law on Political Parties and Associations, which will ban the names of persons from the fascist period.

Macedonia threatens the basic rights of Bulgarians established by the European Convention on Human Rights, such as the right to association, assembly, freedom, and free expression of conviction, said the Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Kostadin Kodzabashev today.

Bulgaria has signed and ratified conventions of the Council of Europe, but does not respect them.

Although they have committed to take care of minority rights – by signing the Framework Convention on National Minorities, Bulgaria has not yet ratified several important documents: for example, the so-called Protocol 12 of the European Convention on Minority Rights and Languages.