Bulgarian member of European Parliament Andrey Kovatchev says that the country will have to demand additional guarantees from Macedonia in case VMRO-DPMNE wins the April 2020 elections. The comment comes after Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov broadcast on Facebook his conversation with VMRO leader Hristijan Mickoski, as he demanded that Mickoski commits to upholding the “friendship treaty” Borisov signed with Zoran Zaev.
Following the meeting, Mickoski said that VMRO will implement all elements in the treaty that are favorable to both countries, but not those that damage Macedonian interests. Bulgarian politicians are using the treaty to demand that Macedonia accepts the Bulgarian national character of a number of much of its history and heroes and that all mention of Bulgaria’s alliance with Germany in World War Two is dropped.
In the past few days there were very unpleasant comments from the VMRO-DPMNE leadership, that sow hatred against Bulgaria. It is absolutely unacceptable and I’m convinced it will not go without consequences. That is the behavior of this party toward Bulgaria. They want us to apologize to them for the past 300 years, for how bad Bulgaria has been toward Macedonia and the Macedonians. Their propaganda from 1944 has now resurfaced, Kovatchev, who was present at the meeting in Zagreb, said.
In an interview with Kurir.mk, Mickoski repeated his position about the meeting and how his partial comments were being picked up by media outlets close to the Zaev regime.
I had a constructive meeting with Mr. Boyko Borisov which I happily agreed to as I believe that we need to build bridges of cooperation and not conflicts. We share the same positions on a number of issues. It was somewhat unpleasant that the initial portion of the meeting, which is usually informal, was being recorded and I regret that our political opponent SDSM is now completely distorting what was said and is creating fake news to fool the public. I never once mentioned the treaty and I’ve said it before, I will support everything that is beneficial to both our countries, economic and trade cooperation, cultural cooperation, sports, wherever I believe that the Macedonian people and the citizens of Macedonia will benefit I will do so. But, on the other hand, I will never accept issues that damage the Macedonian people and the citizens of Macedonia, unprincipled requests and ultimatums or compromising with untruths. I have no doubts about the Macedonian character of Goce Delcev and his struggle to create a Macedonian state, or the uniqueness of the Macedonian language. I may be now in high politics and have less mileage when it comes to bilateral meetings, we may make lapses of protocol, but I assure you that I know what I’m talking about when it comes to the essential matters, Mickoskis said.
Media outlets from the left insisted that Mickoski’s comments reveal that he is secretly supportive of the treaty Zaev signed with Borisov, who openly endorsed Zaev to remain in office telling him that he has “more work to do”.
Kovatchev said that Bulgaria has raised the issue of Macedonian history before the European People’s Party and said it will demand guarantees in case VMRO wins the elections. “Goce Delcev, Damjan Gruev, the Miladinov brothers, Todor Aleksandrov, Grigor Prlicev and all the other leaders and revolutionaries declared themselves as ethnic Bulgarians. We can’t stand the continued falsification”, Kovatchev added.
Zoran Zav was also asked about the relations with Bulgaria in his RFE interview, as well as about the Greek push to claim the name Macedonia for its trademarks without waiting for a commission to be formed as provided in the Prespa treaty, and he praised the two countries for their support in the European Council.
Bulgaria is trying, as is its right, to position itself as it sees fit in the closing of certain issues before the multi-disciplinary commission. We are the second party, and we will resolve these issues through talks. We have closed four historic chapters. We will not allow a return to fighting, problems and the like, because we are a small country, Zaev said.
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