Bulgarian member of the European Parliament Ilhan Kyuchyuk met with Zaev’s envoy Vlado Buckovski in Sofia, and expressed his hope that soon the dispute will be resolved by pushing back against nationalism in both countries. Kyuchyuk, who is a Turk, is a rapporteur of the European Parliament for Macedonia.

I am convinced that very soon the governments of Bulgaria and Macedonia will turn their backs on nationalism and engage in constructive negotiations because walls have no place in our relations, Kyuchyuk said. Bulgaria holds elections in early April and many in the Macedonian Government are hoping Bulgarian positions will moderate after the vote.

Other than this meeting, little else is reported about Buckovski’s latest diplomatic mission. He was placed in this position by Zoran Zaev after Bulgaria vetoed Macedonia’s EU accession talks.