Zoran Zaev addressed his latest foreign policy humiliation today. At an event in Skopje, along with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama whose country was also stood out by the EU, Zaev laid the blame at the feet of the European leaders who promised him open doors if he rams through the name change.

The grand idea of a united Europe has a problem, and the problem is in the EU itself. Brussels told us that it can’t find a way to secure the well deserved integration of the Western Balkans. That is the problem. The fact that 26 member states can’t prevent one state from blocking us, that is a problem of Europe, caused by the EU itself, Zaev said.

He insisted that he will continue to push for opening of accession talks, together with Rama. But Zaev also announced the latest concessions he is willing to give to Bulgaria. While insisting that “the Macedonian national identity will not be subject to negotiations”, Zaev also discussed one one formula he was negotiating about with Bulgaria regarding the Macedonian nation. Bulgaria wants Macedonia to declare that the Macedonian nation was for most of its history part of the Bulgarian nation and is only recently derived from it.

We confirm that there are people who believe that we belong to the same nation, just as there are many people who believe that we are two separate and unique nations, Zaev said.

This comes after Bulgarian media outlets reported that Zaev was negotiating a declaration that the Macedonian language and the Bulgarian language are one and the same, but are merely internationally recognized as two separate languages. These two formulations would go a long way toward legitimizing Bulgarian claims aimed at Macedonia and would greatly undermine the position of the Macedonian nation and language as separate and unique.