Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski expressed readiness to speak with the Bulgarian leadership, after critical comments from Sofia. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev accused Macedonia of violating the rights of ethnic Bulgarians and said that Bulgaria can’t allow Macedonia to enter the EU.

We can’t be good neighbours if we don’t respect each other. I regret that we hear such messages from our eastern neighbour. I thought that such statements belonged to the Middle Ages but unfortunately we see politicians in contemporary Europe, in the 21 century, who speak in this way. Despite it all I’m prepared to sit with them. I wish Borisov forms the new Government as we come from the same political family, from the EPP. But my message to them is that the time of servile politicians, who bent the knee, is over. We had politicians who in the name of the European flag plundered and humiliated their county

Mickoski said that building good neighbourly relations is a two way street and reminded Radev that there are 14 verdicts of the European Court of Human Rights declaring that Bulgaria violated the rights of its Macedonian minority.

We, as a state, have been recognizing minorities, including the Bulgarian one, since the early 40s of the last century. We do not dispute the right of our fellow citizens who feel as such and that is a fact. But let’s see now what happened in history with our eastern neighbor. And if you go back from those early 40s and if you see the censuses that were made in those years and from the early 50s, you will see that several hundred thousand citizens of our eastern neighbor declared themselves as Macedonians. Even in the late 40s, dozens of teachers from Macedonia, in Western Macedonia, in the Pirin part of Macedonia, taught the Macedonians in the Macedonian language, about Macedonian culture, about Macedonian customs, theatrical performances were organized.. Bulgarian authorities then abolished that right, which leads to the creation of frustration and silent assimilation of the Macedonians in the Western part of Bulgaria, in Pirin Macedonia, and it is unfortunate that it continues in the  21st century, said the newly elected Prime Minister of Macedonia.

Mickoski said that he’s prepared to discuss this issue both in Sofia and in Brussels, where he expects assurances that Bulgaria won’t continue to undermine Macedonia’s EU accession with its demands.