German member of Parliament Frank Schwabe and Hungarian representative Zsolt Nemeth asked Bulgaria, through the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, to respect the rights of the Macedonian minority.

Schwabe and Nemeth called on Bulgaria recognize the existence of a Macedonian minority, introduce Macedonians into its council of ethnic minorities and to allow the registration of Macedonian organizations. Bulgaria is also called to allow education in the Macedonian language.

The country was also called for racist and hate speech aimed at the Roma, Muslims, Jews, Turks and Macedonians.

Bulgarian representative Milena Damyanova responded to the criticism by insisting that the Council of Europe doesn’t have a definition for an ethnic minority and likened the recognition of ethnic minorities in Bulgaria to opening the Pandora’s box.