Macedonians are out to fight for our rights, said VMRO-DPMNE Vice President Vladimir Misajlovski as thousands of people are gathering in downtown Skopje to protest Zoran Zaev’s announced surrender in the dispute with Bulgaria. The phrase Misajlovski used is memorable from the songs of the partisan movement during the Second World War,  a period which Bulgaria wants recast in a different light in Macedonian history books, and threatens it will not allow the opening of EU accession talks unless Macedonia accepts this and many other demands.

Today marks the third day of protests after Zaev’s scandalous BGNES interview in which he clearly announced his intent to accept all Bulgarian demands. Protesters are calling for his resignation, and while the rallies are organized by the right, many top officials from Zaev’s own SDSM party have joined in the calls for his ouster.

Zaev needs to resign and a broad expert Government to be put in his place, to prepare for early elections as soon as conditions allow, said Zivko Jankuloski, leader of the PODEM party who spoke at the rally in Skopje. “We must stop his attempts to trade away the Macedonian language, identity and history. We can’t be deformed only to begin EU accession talks, talks which will likely never end. We won’t have no use for the European Union if we are left without identity, language or history, and the EU will have no use for us in that shape, Jankuloski said.

He and other speakers pointed to the earlier Prespa treaty with Greece which began the process of redefining the Macedonian nation and rewriting its history, a process which is now being ramped up with the Bulgarian demands for strict implementation of the 2017 Zaev – Borisov treaty.

We have no economy left, the budget is gone, and the ruling party, as we all saw and heard, is involved in daily corruption and racketeering scandals. The judiciary is politicized to put the innocent into prison, and we lead the world in Covid-19 deaths. So I urge all those who still haven’t joined the opposition, those coalition parties that still support the Government, let’s demand Zaev’s resignation, let’s form a Government of experts and organize early general elections as soon as the conditions allow, Jankuloski said.