Bulgarian historians said that the latest round of talks with their Macedonian counterparts was disappointing, and that no progress was made in determining a joint historical narrative about Goce Delcev, the legendary leader of VMRO and of the Macedonian liberation movement.

The joint commission of historians was set up under the 2017 treaty signed between Zoran Zaev and Boyko Borisov, under which Bulgaria has the right to block Macedonia’s European Union accession talks, unless Macedonia agrees to a shared historical narrative. Bulgarian politicians insist that there is no Macedonian nation or language separate from the Bulgarian and demand that Macedonian history books reflect this position, and declare that historic figures such as Delcev are explicitly described as Bulgarians.

Half the meeting was spent in fruitless discussions about whether we should talk about Goce Delcev or not, and our colleagues from the other side strangely said that they didn’t realize we are supposed to discuss Delcev. They did not talk to us about Goce Delcev as a person and in a sociological or even political approach they wanted to explain how important he is for the Macedonian people and how he turned into a symbol. That was the most disappointing moment in the meeting, said Bulgarian historian Angel Dimitrov, who is the leading person in the Bulgarian team.

In previous meetings, Macedonian historians accepted the Bulgarian narrative on historic figures such as Tsar Samuil, Ss. Cyril and Methodius and Grigor Prlicev. These historic figures are being declared part of the shared history, a definition which Bulgaria sees as Macedonian acceptance of their Bulgarian character. In theory, the treaty is symmetrical and Macedonian historians have the right to request that the Bulgarian side changes some aspects of its own historical narrative, but in reality, with the EU veto right firmly in the Bulgarian hands, the changes agreed so far have been only on the Macedonian side.