Following his visit to Bulgaria, Zoran Zaev issued a video claiming that he is “restoring trust between the Macedonian and the Bulgarian people”.

The visit is largely seen as failure, since Zaev was unable to get Bulgaria to lift its veto of Macedonia’s EU accession talks, even after he made promises for major new concessions. These include amending the Macedonian Constitution to add the Bulgarians as one of the ethnic groups living in Macedonia, and, apparently, a declaration that the Macedonian and the Bulgarian language are identical – just internationally recognized as separate.

Zaev offered to declare that the Macedonian and the Bulgarian languages are the same

We made a step forward – we are restoring trust between the Macedonian and the Bulgarian nation. At my meetings in Sofia we activated the dialogue and confirmed that we are for friendship. The dialogue will bring a solution to our people, for the young, for a common European future, Zaev insisted.

The European Council meets next week, where Bulgaria is likely to maintain its veto of Macedonia’s EU accession talks.