Bulgarian Defense Minister Krasimir Karakacanov warned Macedonia that it will wait for entry into the European Union for a very long time, unless it changes its behavior. Karakacanov said that Macedonia must apologize to ethnic Bulgarians who were attacked after World War Two.

Bulgaria has every right to demand that candidate countries implement certain conditions. One of those is about our national security. Skopje says “but we want in” – I may want many things, but they want it all. You can’t lay claims on Bulgarian history, you can’t avoid apologizing to the people you killed and tortured for decades only because they are Bulgarians, and you can’t claim you have a centuries old identity. In 1945 Macedonia adopted a law that maybe not even Nazi Germany had that fined people who identify as Bulgarians to five years in prison. Albanians and Turks had no problem, those that declared as Serbs were applauded, but Bulgarians were sent to jail, Karakacanov said in an interview.

Karakacanov is the most hard line Government official, who pushed the Borisov Government into blocking Macedonia from opening EU accession talks.