Nationalist Defense Minister Krasimir Karakacnov said that Bulgaria will move to postpone the opening of EU accession talks with Macedonia, as the country still hasn’t delivered on the demanded concessions. Bulgaria wants Macedonia to agree to a new reading of history under which legendary VMRO leader and national struggle hero Goce Delcev will be declared an ethnic Bulgarian, and has sent a memorandum with a long list of historic grievances to the European Council.

Bulgaria will not oppose holding the first inter-governmental conference (the opening of accession talks) but we will say that the time is still not right for it. There is a very clear condition that each candidate country must first resolve all disputes with its neighbors before it call begin accession talks. Bulgaria should change nothing in its approach, since October we’ve said that if the 2017 Friendship Treaty is not respected we will opposing having the conference, Karakacanov said.

EU member states are discussing whether and when to open the accession talks with both Macedonia and Albania, and opposition from one member state can block the move. In an interview, Karakacanov was critical of the Macedonian EU integration official Nikola Dimitrov, saying that he has done nothing to improve relations.

They think they can cover this up and hope that someone in Brussels will pressure Bulgaria and force us to back off. Obviously they don’t understand how the EU operates. They had three years to re-educate themselves. When someone is not ready to begin attending first grade, there are preparatory courses that he needs to take. I say this on behalf of the Government, Karakacanov stated in the clearest yet indication that Bulgaria will not allow the opening of accession talks for Macedonia.