In an interview with 360 Degrees, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani confirmed that one of the demands Bulgaria has put before Macedonia is that the country accepts that the Macedonian nation and language have derived from Bulgarians and the western Bulgarian dialects.

This is the text that was officially proposed by Bulgaria at one of the COREPER meetings of the European Council, that if we accept historic reality, Bulgaria will accept current reality. But I think this position is a momentary reflection of the lack of confidence in the treaty and the process we have. It is correct that the treaty does not foresee discussing this issue. According to the treaty, historic arguments will be reviewed by the historic committee, Osmani said.

The Zaev Government initially tried to hide the Bulgarian memorandum from the public. The strongly worded document announced Bulgaria’s veto of Macedonia.