Former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski responded sternly to the comments from Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski that under his term, Macedonia was under international isolation. In a Facebook comment, Gruevski describes all the successes in opening Macedonia politically, diplomatically and economically to Europe and the West in general, which lasted until the 2015 Colored Revolution and the “open, overt, strong outside pressure and organized campaign for the removal of my Government, with the purpose of installing the “messiah” (Zaev) as Prime Minister.

Gruevski points out to the nine positive recommendations for Macedonia to open EU accession talks, the visa liberalization with the EU, the recommendation from the US to join NATO and the strategic partnership agreement with the US, the recognition of Macedonia under its constitutional name by dozens of countries – including some top international players, and the successful court case against Greece for blocking Macedonia’ NATO membership.

All that we worked for for 28 years, all that was done by the preceding VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM led Governments, by hundreds of diplomats who defended our positions, it was all given away. I will not even mention those who have fallen through history for the identity of Macedonia and the Macedonians, Gruevski writes, discussing the ease with which Zoran Zaev signed the Prespa Treaty to give away Macedonia’s history and national identity to Greece to rewrite and reshape.

In his comments, Gruevski also notes that Zaev handed to Bulgaria recorded conversations with the Macedonian leadership, disclosing the strategies in the negotiations with this country. “This is not an idle claim, I personally spoke with some who bragged about the materials he gave them”, Gruevski writes.

He notes that Bulgaria would not even open the identity issues while he was Prime Minister, knowing full well that it would get nowhere with him. On the other hand, even after the close relationship with Zaev and the Friendship Treaty he signed only months after grabbing power in 2017, Bulgaria decided to veto Macedonia’s EU path in 2020, and put forward a long list of nationalist demands that Macedonia must now meet if it wants to open the EU accession talks.