Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva insisted that she did not veto the opening of EU accession talks with Macedonia, but that the proposal simply wasn’t put on the table. Zaharieva held a joint press conference with former Macedonian Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski, who is Zaev’s envoy to Bulgaria for the duration of this crisis.

The Bulgarian position is clear – we demand guarantees for the implementation of the 2017 treaty, a declaration that there are no claims toward a Macedonian minority and use of the language clause from the treaty. That was not contained in the EU negotiating framework and Bulgaria could not support it. We were warning our neighbors of this for a year and a half. The work of the committee of historians was blocked and politicized, there are bureaucratic obstacles put before Bulgarian businesses, there is informal support for individuals and organizations who claim the existance of a Macedonian minority in Bulgaria and there is lack of progress in the construction of Corridor 8, Zaharieva said.

During the long dispute with Greece, Greek diplomats would similarly claim that they are not vetoing Macedonia’s progress toward the EU or NATO, but the issue was simply not raised before the foreign ministers. Clear opposition from an ambassador of a member state, during the preparation of the summit of ministers is enough to block the adoption of a decision that requires unanimous support.