Bulgaria should not lash out against Macedonia over the issue of Macedonian minority rights – it is a matter raised by the Council of Europe, said VMRO-DPMNE official Toni Menkinoski. One of the reasons for the Bulgarian veto against Macedonia’s EU accession talks is that the rights of the Macedonian minority in Pirin Macedonia became an issue in the months leading up to the veto.

Macedonia doesn’t ask Bulgaria to respect minority rights of its citizens, but the Council of Europe does. Respecting minority rights is an international democratic standards and it needs to be built into the internal system of every democratic state, especially if it is a member of the European Union. The Macedonian minority in Bulgaria has every right that belong to it according to international law and Macedonia can’t give up on their rights since they are not part of our prerogative as a state, Menkinoski said.

Bulgaria, which generally does not recognize ethnic minorities, lost a number of cases before the European Court of Human Rights because it refuses to allow Macedonian organizations to register. This was raised as part of the growing campaign against Bulgaria for rule of law violations in the European Parliament. Good chunks of the 2017 Zaev – Borisov treaty and the 2018 Prespa treaty are dedicated to insisting that Macedonia will not support minority right claims in Bulgaria and Greece.