A crucial new meeting of Macedonian and Bulgarian historians begins today in Sofia, during which the Bulgarian side expects major concessions to be made on the historic narrative about Goce Delcev.

Bulgaria wants Macedonia to declare the legendary VMRO hero as an ethnic Bulgarian. The refusal of Macedonian historians to fully accept this request sparked tense exchanges in June and led to Bulgarian threats that they will block Macedonia’s EU accession talks.

Additionally, issues remain over aspects of the medieval history, where Bulgaria wants Macedonia to acknowledge the Bulgarian character of the shared states.

There are serious differences in the way we approach and understand the medieval history and the terms that are going to be used, sources in the Macedonian team told the MIA news agency.

The teams so far agreed to propose that the two countries jointly celebrate medieval figures Ss. Cyril and Methodius, St. Clement and St. Naum of Ohrid and Tsar Samoil, as well as changes in how the ancient history was taught. Both countries will be expected to implement the “shared narrative” in their history books, but given Bulgaria’s position in NATO and the EU, it is expected that Macedonia will be the one pushed to alter its books far more extensively.