As the dispute between Macedonia and Bulgaria over the national heritage of Goce Delcev grows and threatens to lead to a new blockade of Macedonia’s EU accession, the Lider news site published Delcev’s military academy record.

It shows that while he was a young cadet in Sofia, Delcev’s worst grades (7) came in geometry and… Bulgarian language. The rest of the grades are 8s, 9s and 10s.

Bulgaria demands that Macedonia signs on to a new reading of its national history, under which the legendary VMRO leader will be declared as an ethnic Bulgaria, who never the less fought for the freedom of Macedonia from the Ottomans – with its future status to be determined. Macedonian historians refuse to accept the request, and under the 2017 Zaev – Borisov treaty it may lead to a Bulgarian veto of the expected opening of EU accession talks with Macedonia.