Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov gave the clearest indication yet that his country will veto Macedonia’s EU accession path unless his 2017 treaty with Zoran Zaev is respected in full. Borisov made his heated remarks on Wednesday evening, following the online EU – Balkans summit organized by Croatia, and warned that Bulgaria will block any of the 35 stages of EU accession unless Macedonia makes the national identity concessions that Zaev promised when he signed the treaty.
We told them what our conditions are for them to be accepted to the European Union. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to do it. We supported them for NATO. What are we supposed to do, say that we are Macedonians?, Borisov said, mockingly.
Bulgaria demands that Macedonian historians accept the Bulgarian ethnicity of a number of historic figures, most divisively those from the 19th century period of national awakening such as Goce Delcev. Additionally, Bulgaria wants assurances that the Macedonian language won’t become an official EU language – as it considers it to be just a western dialect of the Bulgarian language.
Bulgaria agreed to a broad conclusion that accession talks with Macedonia and Albania can begin, but with no date added to the decision. In the conclusions adopted by the EU yesterday, accession talks are not mentioned. Instead, a vague promise of European perspective is named, and the two candidate countries are told they must maintain good-neighborly relations with EU member states. The treaties Zaev signed with Bulgaria and Greece are specifically named in the conclusion, and Borisov pointed to this as a major for Bulgarian diplomacy, saying that his demands are now backed by all EU member states. The line is similar to the statements made by Greek diplomats and politicians over the past three decades, as that country used its influence in EU and NATO to block Macedonia from joining until a long list of humiliating concessions is met.
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