Bulgarian President Rumen Radev met with German President Frank Walter Steinmeier, with the dispute with Macedonia as one of the main issues.

Radev told Steinmeier that he expects active, high level dialogue in Macedonia during which the open issues will be resolved before Bulgaria will lift its veto and allow Macedonia to open its EU accession talks. Radev accused Macedonia of “falsifying the Bulgarian cultural-historic heritage” and of violating the rights of its ethnic Bulgarian citizens, which is fast becoming the main cause Bulgaria uses to justify its veto.

Bulgaria imposed the veto in 2020, and demands major concessions from Macedonia in the area of national history and national identity as condition for lifting it.