A group of mostly Bulgarian commentators and opinion makers signed a petition condemning the framework conditions outlined by the Bulgarian Government over Macedonia’s EU accession talks.

The Bulgarian framework position outlines that the country will work to ensure that the term “Macedonian language” is not used in the European Union, but instead that the language is described as the “official language of the Republic of North Macedonia”, in line with the Bulgarian position that it is just a dialect of the Bulgarian language. Bulgaria will demand the removal of all mention of the “Bulgarian fascist occupier” from documents and monuments in Macedonia that refer to the period of World War Two when Bulgaria sided with Germany and occupied most of the modern day Republic of Macedonia.

Macedonia will also be required to give up any claims on the existence of a Macedonian minority in Bulgaria – organizations of Macedonians exist in the western part of Bulgaria known as Pirin Macedonia. The framework also demands a clear timeline when Macedonia will accept the Bulgarian positions on its historical narrative, which are expected to be taught to Macedonian school children.

In the petition, which includes many outspoken supporters of the treaty signed between the two countries in 2017, who insisted that it will contribute to a reduction of tensions and better relations between the two countries, it is now warned that the latest Bulgarian positions will only cause an adverse reaction in Macedonia and is an example of a far overreach. After joining EU and NATO, Bulgaria adopted a stand that it can now leverage its new position to extract concessions from Macedonia, similarly to what Greece has been doing since 1991, but the this push led to reaction among many Macedonians who expected unconditional support for their EU and NATO accession from a close, friendly country like Bulgaria.

We express our concern and deep alarm by this notorious framework presented by the Bulgarian Government for the future European Union membership of the Republic of “North” Macedonia. We believe that it draws back to the language of national-communism and is absolutely unacceptable… The framework positions contains many disturbing and problematic demands. It describes our shared history until 1944 as the history of just one nation – the Bulgarian nation. In practice, the Macedonian state is asked to transcribe the Bulgarian history but in reality modern day Bulgaria and “North” Macedonia are equal heirs of a centuries old culture and civilization. The framework positions also contain a naive understanding that the identity of all historic figures has easy and simple answers from a contemporary perspective – either a Bulgarian or a Macedonian, the petition says.

The signatories of the petition call for emphasis on steps such as infrastructure linkage between the two countries and greater Bulgarian soft power presence in Macedonia, instead of further pressure against Macedonia.

Bulgarian politicians were under pressure to receive the expected concessions from Macedonia before it begins its accession talks with the EU, and President Rumen Radev recently convened a meeting of state leaders to discuss the issue, which eventually led to the conditions contained in the framework document.

Macedonia, meanwhile, celebrated October 11th – the anniversary of the 1941 partisan actions against Bulgarian police officers in Prilep and Kumanovo. Officials from the SDSM party were careful not to mention Bulgaria in most of their remarks, not to provoke Bulgarian politicians at this time. Even ordinary citizens were uncertain how to position themselves. A video went viral of a woman from Skopje who refused to answer a journalist when asked who did the Macedonian partisans fight against in the Second World War. “I’d rather not say”, she replied sheepishly, after the blank answer – “the occupiers” – was not considered valid.