The report of the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the process of drafting the French proposal reveals three facts that Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski and Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani are hiding.

The secret protocol

The Bulgarian media conveyed the significance of the French proposal for them, and here the connection is hidden behind a fake broad social debate, unconcealed activities of the Macedonian “deep state” in constructing inter-ethnic tensions and hiding the key document – the second bilateral protocol of the joint Macedonian-Bulgarian intergovernmental commission!!!

After the holding of the first political intergovernmental conference with Macedonia and respectively with Albania to start the negotiations, the path of the two countries towards EU membership is practically separated. Then it will be difficult to argue Bulgaria’s accusations that due to the blocking of Macedonia we are hindering the European integration of the Western Balkans. This will significantly weaken the external pressure towards Bulgaria and strengthen the Bulgarian positions towards Skopje, the Bulgarian media commented.

It is very important not to lose sight of the fact that the protocol that Osmani wants to present as just an ordinary record of the intergovernmental commission is anything but an ordinary record, because it contains, among other things, the protocols for the agreement reached at the historic commission for the five historical figures – Saints Cyril and Methodius, Saints Clement and Naum and Tsar Samuil – as well as the timings and the commitments undertaken by the Macedonian side for the coming period.

This is exactly what the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice Prime Minister for European Integration Nikola Dimitrov noted in a television interview.

This needs to be slowed down a bit, a panicked rush. It bothers me that these “broad consultations” are a bit fake. How can we realistically perceive all aspects in time, with cool heads, when one key part of the package is missing, which is the bilateral protocol, said Dimitrov on the “Samo intervju” show on TV Kanal 5.

He pointed out that this is crucial because, as he said, the protocol is embedded in the road that is said to be European.

The publication of this protocol was requested by the smaller government coalition partners DS, LDP and DOM, but they had separate meetings with both the head of state and the foreign guests, so it is uncertain whether they will comply with the request.

Basically, without knowledge of the content of this protocol, no institution or organization in society will be able to make an authoritative and sustained decision on the French proposal.

After the publication of the French proposal in the Bulgarian media, only the agency BGNES published the alleged content of this protocol and the reactions in our public were maximally disapproving, because according to the content, with it, Macedonia, in fact, assumed absolutely non-fulfilling obligations. Among other things, it will be necessary to change the signboard of Samuil’s fortress in Ohrid.

Macedonian textbooks with Bulgarian text

The Macedonian concessions neither begin nor end with the change of the signboard on Samuil’s fortress in Ohrid. Macedonia will not even apparently start negotiations with the EU until it changes the Constitution, the textbooks, the inscriptions on the monuments and many other conditions.

From what was published by the Bulgarian media, this protocol stipulates that Macedonia will deliver to Bulgaria copies of all methodological guidelines, textbooks, teaching aids and other relevant teaching materials – so that Bulgaria will write the history and textbooks directly.

In addition, the Government undertakes by the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year to change the content of the geography textbook for grade VII, as well as new books, documentaries and magazines, films and other works of art, cultural monuments and celebrations to be implemented in the spirit of The Treaty of Friendship.

The three facts that Kovacevski and Osmani are hiding:

1. The bilateral and still secret Macedonian-Bulgarian protocol is an integral part of the negotiating framework

2. Macedonia will not really start negotiations with the EU until it changes the Constitution, textbooks, articles on monuments and many other conditions and

3. With this French proposal, the Albania and Macedonia package is separated and Albania will have a real start to the negotiations, and Macedonia will have a photo, “greetings from Brussels”