Bulgarian Vice President Iliana Iotova made conciliatory comments that announce that Bulgaria might allow Macedonia to finally open its EU accession talks. Iotova spoke of the modalities for how the historic and national identity issues that Bulgaria is raising against Macedonia could be incorporated in the accession talks process – in a separate chapter or in the first chapter.

The issue is likely to dominate the talks when they eventually open, with Bulgaria raising it during various portions of the process, driven by its domestic policy considerations at any given moment. Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev actually assured Bulgaria that it can still block Macedonia at any time, as part of his push to get it to allow the opening of accession talks.

I hope that the Foreign Ministry and President Radev will sent out good messages to our European partners, Iotova said, days ahead of the planned joint trip by Radev and President Pendarovski to Rome, to honor Ss. Cyril and Methodius. “With EU efforts, we must find a solution for both countries, to implement the 2017 Friendship Treaty, while not erasing the memory of Bulgaria or of Macedonia”, Iotova told the Bulgarian public radio.

She insisted that the accession process with Macedonia will not be concluded until the relationship between the two countries is “cleared up” and said that Macedonia must put an end to “hate speech”, which she said is present in the Macedonian media lately.

Radev acknowledged that the country is under some pressure from outside to get it to allow the opening of EU accession talks. Earlier this week an EU delegation made up of Commissioner Varhelyi and Portuguese Foreign Minister Silva were in Skopje and Sofia to present a proposal that Bulgaria quickly rejected, given that it does not have a political Government at the moment.