Coalition partners in the new Bulgarian Government denounced the statement from their colleague, ITN party leader Slavi Trifonov, who said that Bulgaria will lift its veto against Macedonia’s EU accession talks if it is made part of the Schengen regime and if the US lift their visa regime against Bulgaria.

Trifonov open offer of a quid pro quo unnerved his coalition partners, who have difficulty justifying the veto before foreign officials as it is.

We have a strategy to lead the negotiations (with Macedonia) on a broader, more intensive level, and not just in the realm of the historic past. That is the position of the coalition and of the PP party, said Andrey Gyurov, coordinator of the group of the dominant coalition partner, the PP party, in Parliament.

Atanas Atanasov from Democratic Bulgaria said that there is nothing inherently bad in Trifonov’s position but that the Bulgarian position should not be presented in those terms. “There is no connection between the admission of that country in the EU and the lifting of the US visas for Bulgarian citizens”, Atanasov added.

Kristijan Vigenin from the BSP socialist party also condemned the way in which Trifonov spoke about the issue. “Every word counts and I hope that improvised statements will be brought down to a minimum”.