Ahead of the planned conference on Goce Delcev in Sofia, that will take place tomorrow, the organizers from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences BAN have moderated the invitation.

The conference was initially announced by hardline President Rumen Radev as an even dedicated to the “Apostle of Macedonian Bulgarians”, declaring Delcev exclusively as a Bulgarian figure, but also all Macedonians as Bulgarians.

In the official invitation issued by BAN, the Academy says that the conference is about the European perspective and good neighborly relations between the two countries and does not mention the same designation about Delcev.

Radev has led the push to pressure Macedonia into giving away much of its history in exchange for a possible opening of EU accession talks. The conference will discuss the organizations of Macedonian Bulgarians, and will feature Georgi Crnomarov – representative of the newly opened club Vanco Mihajlov from Bitola. Naming the club after the Nazi collaborator, and the arrival of the high level Bulgarian delegation during its opening, are the latest moves that worsened relations between the two countries.