First Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi addressed the bombshell revelations made by Nikola Dimitrov today, who informed the public that the Government, and especially its Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, are working to accept all key Bulgarian demands that undermine the Macedonian national identity. Similarly to the response from Zoran Zaev’s office, Grubi also attributed Dimitrov’s comments to the fact that he is not going to be included in the next Government.

I regret that at the end of his term in Government, Dimitrov realized that he does not trust Foreign Minister Osmani. Maybe it would’ve been good if he said that at the start and we could work to build trust between them. But I’m convinced that the citizens have no reason to feel distrust, toward Osmani or the Government. Everything is transparent and any deal that will be reached (with Bulgaria) will be presented before the citizens and will have to be accepted by them, Grubi said.

The Zaev regime famously ignored the outcome of the 2018 referendum on the imposed name change, which was rejected by the citizens through a massive boycott.

Grubi insisted that he feels empathy with the ethnic Macedonian citizens whose identity is being undermined and that “we absolutely line up in defense of their identity and language”. Both Grubi and Osmani are ethnic Albanians.