Bulgarian Vice President Iliyana Yotova organized a conference in Kustendil on the ethnic Bulgarians living outside of the country’s borders, where she had critical comments prepared for Macedonia.

Read the European values with more understanding. When the actual EU accession talks begin, there will be the first chapter – fundamental rights. These rights are part of the entire negotiating process, and if there is one country that believes that the human rights are not respected, particularly the human rights of the members of other nations and people, this process will never be completed, Yotova said, announcing that even after Bulgaria eventually allows Macedonia to open its EU accession talks, it will not be smooth sailing.

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski promptly responded to Yotova’s comments. “As a country we respect human rights and act upon verdicts from relevant institutions if they find any violations. The relevant institution here is the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Unfortunately, we have EU member states that do not respect the court, and do not implement dozens of such verdicts. I suppose the decisions should apply to member states as well, not just the candidate countries”, Mickoski said.

There are 14 pending sentences against Bulgaria, Mickoski added, and urged he Bulgarian Government to at least allow ethnic Macedonians to set up civic organizations. “We are not asking to be made part of the Constitution, but simply to have NGO organizations”.