Bulgarian President Rumen Radev met with EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi to discuss the relations with Macedonia after the census, that showed only 3,500 Bulgarians in Macedonia. This is a major problem for Bulgaria, which wanted to see the number reflect the over 80,000 dual citizenships it has handed out to Macedonians over the past decades (Radev puts the number at 120,000).

There is some progress in our work. Due to our patients and hard work, these problems are being recognized by the EU and are raised as issues by the EU. The census is another piece of evidence of how the rights of Bulgarians in Macedonia are being violated. They are not allowed to publicly state that they are Bulgarians. Over 120,000 people provided documents to prove that they are Bulgarians by origin, Radev said.