Bulgaria is inspired by the Prespa treaty with Greece to demand additional concessions from Macedonia, said Alfa TV editor Kole Casule. Bulgaria signed the 2017 Zaev – Borisov treaty, only to see Zaev sign the Prespa treaty in 2018 that has far stricter and more binding clauses, including a forced change of the Macedonian Constitution.

Sofia wants a Prespa treaty of its own. She wants her own Article 7, that will redefine the word “Macedonian”, this time in line with Bulgarian positions. Under the Prespa treaty, the word Macedonian used to label the language, culture and traditions is strictly limited and defined. This treaty already took a bite out of our identity and deforms it. Greece got Zaev to give up on our entire history up to the 7th century AD and the Slavic settlement. Now Bulgaria wants to take the rest, up to 1944, Casule said.

The Zaev – Borisov treaty does not provide for changes to the Constitution and the historic narrative is being imposed on Macedonia through a committee of historians, who were, up until now, to some degree willing to resist pressure from Bulgaria. This, in turn, resulted in a Bulgarian veto of Macedonia’s EU accession talks. Zaev initially denied that Bulgaria now wants a new, much stricter treaty, but Bulgarian officials are making this demand more and more clear.