The atmosphere at today’s foreign affairs committee was tense. There was less talk about what should have been discussed, and that is the Macedonian response to the set of demands of Bulgaria called 5+1.

From Osmani today we did not hear anything in the answers but that they are no longer 5+1 but 4+1 because one was the issue about the use of the short form of “North Macedonia”.

Professor Gordana Siljanovska also had remarks on this issue and warned that it could be a trap.

When we would say Republic of Macedonia, or Macedonia, it referred to Macedonia in general, with all its history, geography, ethnography. Not any more. The new name now refers to a territory with no designation, Siljanovska said.

Osmani did not answer other questions as well, with the excuse that these are draft documents that are being negotiated. He promised that when there was something concrete he would come to the Parliament again.

MP Blagica Laskovska had one of the most memorable speeches. She asked Osmani what right he has to negotiate on her behalf as a Macedonian and that the citizens are rightly scared and do not trust him.

Osmani did not have an answer to Laskovska’s question to comment on Deutsche Welle’s reports that Prime Ministers Petkov and Kovacevski have already agreed that the Bulgarians should be included the Macedonian Constitution.

He was nervously moving his legs and making call on his mobile phone all the time, waiting for Committee chair Milososki to announce the end of the session.