Bulgarian member of the European Parliament and a leading nationalist voice on Macedonia Andrey Kovatchev insisted that the country is united in blocking Macedonia from opening EU accession talks unless “they cease with their manipulations and lies”.
Bulgaria wants Macedonia to acknowledge that the Macedonian nation and language derived from the Bulgarian, and will not allow the accession talks to open by December, as was expected. Last minute interventions are being made by Germany but their effect is still unclear.

There is tremendous consolidation in the Bulgarian society on this issue, regardless of political orientation. They must overcome the anti-Bulgarian rhetoric, especially the one of the past few weeks. They must have courage to do so, not because it is the Bulgarian position, but because it corresponds with the truth, Kovatchev said. Bulgaria’s veto threat predictably led to a torrent of angry comments from citizens from both sides on the border, mainly on the social media networks, and Bulgaria is now lifting this as a new issue in the dispute.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, who is the most outspoken leader of the Socialist Party and leads protests against the Borisov right wing Government (which Kovatchev supports) joined the right in demanding concessions from Macedonia, meaning that even if there is a change of Government after the spring elections, there could be no change of policy. Kovatchev pointed to a poll showing that only 10.2 percent of Bulgarians want to allow unconditional opening of accession talks, while 84 percent support the hardline position of the Borisov Government.

Speaking with the Bulgarian BTV, Kovatchev repeated his positions that Macedonians are culturally under a strong Serbian influence, developed during the time in the Yugoslav federation, and as a result the Macedonian view of Bulgaria has deteriorated and that he wants to see this changed, somehow.