Former Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev praised Zoran Zaev for his new position on Bulgaria, after Zaev accepted practically all Bulgarian demands, and said that his week “decisions will be reached in Sofia, Skopje, Berlin and Brussels” that will alter the course of events. Zaev’s SDSM party denies that it is engaged in talks that would result in a new agreement with Bulgaria, or an annex to the existing treaty.

I hope it will be for the good and I wish him success, Plevneliev said. Bulgaria now wants Macedonia to accept revision of history along Bulgarian lines and to blur the distinction between the Macedonian and the Bulgarian nation, before it will allow the opening of EU accession talks. Plevneliev, who himself comes from the region of Pirin Macedonia, said that for him, “Zoran Zaev is a light in the tunnel, after the dark years of the Gruevski regime”, when Macedonia was not willing to accept concessions with its history and national identity toward Greece and Bulgaria.

Plevneliev also asked Zaev to stop any mention of a Macedonian minority in Bulgaria. He also asked for stricter implementation of the 2017 Zaev – Borisov treaty, saying Zaev has done very little in terms of practical implementation.

There is no change in their relationship to the history, there are no changes in their history books, there is hate speech toward citizens with Bulgarian origin and we are referred to as “Tatars, fascists and occupiers”, Plevneliev said.

Plevneliev warned that if Macedonia continues to resist the demands, it will lose time in comparison to Albania, and that could “benefit Serbia and Russia”.