VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski blasted the Zaev Government for its policy toward Bulgaria, which led to another veto and blockade of Macedonia’s EU accession talks at the latest European Council. Mickoski warned that Bulgaria will continue to increase its demands as long as Zaev continues to grovel before it.

Unfortunately, we are in this position because of the adventurous policies of Zoran Zaev and SDSM, who seriously endangered our Euro-integration process. Our people don’t deserve this. We deserve to open the EU accession talks, and to show that we deserve to sit at the table as equal partners with the other EU countries. But Zaev’s concessions on our national identity issues have no end, and as long as he continues this policy, there will be no end to the demands from our Eastern neighbor. You do not show European values if you grovel. You need to stick to your position and to your red lines, Mickoski said during a visit to Gradsko.

He accused Zaev of undermining Macedonia’s prospects in other regards as well, with the exceptional level of crime, drug running, the lack of investments and the failures in the public education and healthcare, all of which undercut Macedonia’s case for joining the EU.

The newly appointed Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said that he wants a period of at least six months during which the two countries will conduct negotiations on several tracks, and afterwards he will decide whether the veto can be lifted. At the same time President Radev continued to present a hardline policy, accusing Macedonia of violating the rights of ethnic Bulgarians – which is the latest excuse Bulgaria is putting forward for its veto, after its initial complaints about “stealing history” had little purchase in Brussels.