VMRO-DPMNE will not uphold any treaty that damages Macedonian interests which Zoran Zaev may now sign with Bulgaria, said opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski.

Zaev accepted all Bulgarian demands in his BGNES interview yesterday, but as Bulgarian Defense Minister Krasimir Karakacanov said, an interview is not enough. Bulgaria is expected to demand a new firm, binding treaty to add to the 2017 Zaev – Borisov treaty, in which it will impose its views on Macedonian history and national identity on our country.

The next VMRO-DPMNE Government will not uphold this treaty and will not respect it, Mickoski said.

He urged the European Union to approve the opening of accession talks on December 8th, because otherwise, Zaev will be pushed to sign a treaty that will give away the Macedonian national identity.

During a TV21 interview, Mickoski added that Bulgarian officials have openly said that Zaev made promises of major concessions and Bulgaria now naturally expects him to deliver.

Top political groups from our eastern neighbor are owning up to this. They say what Zaev promised them before the 2016 elections. Everything that he talks about now, it’s all contained in the promises he made four years ago, when he was desperate to become Prime Minister, Mickoski said.

The opposition leader dismissed Zaev’s claims that there is no distinction between the Macedonian and the Bulgarian languages and nations, saying that there can be no progress in the talks until Bulgaria accepts the differences.

Mickoski urged Zaev to begin a discussion with VMRO-DPMNE on forging national red lines in the dispute. VMRO-DPMNE has been asking for a meeting of party leaders on the issue of Bulgaria, but Zaev refused, ostensibly because it would undermine his position in the negotiations, position which Zaev now completely abandoned in his BGNES interview.