The MIA news agency quotes an unnamed EU official saying that the Union will help resolve the growing dispute between Macedonia and Bulgaria. Bulgarian officials are announcing they will block the opening of accession talks with Macedonia unless the concessions agreed in the 2017 Zaev – Borisov treaty, regarding a number of historic issues and the Macedonian language are enacted upon.

The EU official told the MIA correspondent in Brussels that the EU will work to improve neighborly relations and bring the region into Europe, but that some of the initiative must come from the Balkans and the countries should also try to resolve their own problems. In the brief comment, the official also noted that other countries have bilateral issues and that it is nothing extraordinary.

Bulgaria is using the clout and veto power i thas as a member of the EU, just like Greece did over the past there decades, to pressure Macedonia into concessions.