Macedonian and Bulgarian historians had disagreements on the interpretation of the historic role of VMRO leader Goce Delcev during their latest round of talks held under the auspices of the treaty signed in 2017. Macedonia is supposed to accept Bulgarian objections over the historic interpretation and introduce them in its own history books in order to receive Bulgarian approval to join the European Union.

I would rather not detail the problems we face and the issues where we have reached agreement. This is a process and it will continue. Once agreement is reached, we will be able to say what were the disagreements about, said Dragi Georgiev, the head of the Macedonian team in the joint commission.

Bulgarian historian Angel Dimitrov replied that the talks were exhaustive but constructive and he believes that ultimately agreement will be reached over a joint interpretation of Delcev’s role. Bulgaria considers him a Bulgarian and a fighter to liberate Macedonia as a Bulgarian land and bring it into the Bulgarian state. Bulgarian historians overall reject the idea of a separate Macedonian nation and statehood and given the veto power Bulgaria hold over Macedonia, the talks are expected to reflect this view.

The two teams reached agreement over the period of antiquity, as well as over most of the medieval period, which also contains thorny issues. The period of Macedonian antiquity will likely be covered mainly by mirror treaty with Greece.

Even so, some issues were raised by Bulgaria in the ancient period. For example, Bulgarian historians objected to the chapter on the mission of St. Paul the Apostle to Macedonia, where it is noted that he established the Macedonian Christian church. According to the Bulgarian historians, the Macedonian history books should say that the church was Bulgarian in its national character.
Macedonian historians replied that they object to the qualification that Macedonia is a Bulgarian land contained in the Bulgarian history books.