In a TV interview, President Stevo Pendarovski insisted that there is no need for an additional annex to the 2017 Zaev – Borisov treaty with Bulgaria. Bulgaria is blocking Macedonia’s EU accession talks as it demands additional concessions and also a way to make them legally binding.

We did all we could in our relations with Bulgaria, we had well argumented positions and tried to reach out to them and tell them that what we are proposing is in accordance with European values and principles. We tried formally and informally, directly and through intermediaries, and we tell them that there are things we will not negotiate about, Pendarovski said.

These issues, according to Pendarovski, are the Macedonian national identity, the right to self-determination and the Macedonian language. Pendarovski said that Macedonia is not waiting for a change of guard in Sofia, but for the existing Government to understand his positions.

If their motive is to do better in the elections, after the elections they will have a full mandate to turn to rational arguments. Because what we have here is not rational, Pendarovski told the Borisov Government, adding that two months ago he had a long and pleasant conversation with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, who de facto leads the opposition to Borisov in the run up to the elections. But Radev did insist on a legally binding addition to the 2017 treaty, that will ensure its implementation on the Macedonian side.