Bulgarian socialist and liberal members of the European Parliament are trying to get their colleagues from the socialist and green EU parties to give up on an article in the latest report on Macedonia, which is highly critical of Bulgaria.

The article is proposed by Tanja Fajon, a Slovenian socialist who is a close ally of the Zaev regime. It condemns Bulgaria for provocative statements on historic issues toward Macedonia, which violate the spirit of the 2017 Zaev – Borisov treaty. The article also praises Macedonian officials for their restrained and measured response. Bulgaria is blocking Macedonia from opening EU accession talks as it demands serious concessions on issues of national identity and history, and in response, the Zaev regime has turned to its allies in Brussels to try and put some pressure on Bulgaria.

Bulgarian right wing and nationalist parties are making this article in the report an issue in the coming general elections in Bulgaria. They are condemning their rivals from the BSP socialist party for not preventing the inclusion of this article – especially given that the PES group of European socialist parties is led by a Bulgarian official – Sergey Stanishev.

I am disapointed in this amendments. There is zero support for it in the Bulgarian society. And its inclusion is harming the Bulgarian socialists in the midst of the campaign. Our political opponents are using it against us. I would never submit an amendment on, say, Catalonia, without at least notifying the Spanish socialist delegation. We are now in a position to have to condemn our fellow socialists, or be declared national traitors, said Petar Vitanov, head of the BSP group in the PES delegation in the European Parliament.

The report will be put to a vote tomorrow. It was prepared by the EP rapporteur, who is also from Bulgaria – Ilhan Kyuchyuk. The ethnic Turkish MEP also said that he does not agree with the article proposed by Fajon, Croatian MEP Tonino Picula and other Zaev allies.

Bulgarian nationalist MEP Angel Dzhambazki said that the article is “product of Skopje lobbying” and that it constitutes interference in Bulgarian internal affairs. He warned that if his VMRO-BND party is not returned to the Bulgarian Parliament and remains a vital part of the ruling coalition “Macedonia will be sold out again”.