Prime Mnister Zoran Zaev personally defended singer Tamara Todevska for her rendition of the Macedonian national anthem on the 4th of July reception yesterday and insisted that it was an omission and not planned.

Mistakes happen. Our anthem is still sang every day, everywhere. Absolutely that only shows that this was a careless mistake and an omission for which the organizers but also the performer herself apologized, Zaev said during his visit to Saraj.

Todevska left out the portion of the song where VMRO heroes such as Goce Delcev are mentioned, and the timing, during a fierce debate with Bulgaria over Delcev’s nationality, was seen as suspicious. Zaev endorsed Tamara and supported her Eurovision campaing, which was seen as an attempt to promote the name “North Macedonia”, as the singer broke with tradition and frequently used the imposed name.