Prime Minister Zoran Zaev is off to Berlin where he will receive an award from the left wing Friedrich Ebert foundation. The purpose of the visit seems to be to make another lobbying attempt to get Germany, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, to pressure Bulgaria into allowing Macedonia to open its EU accession talks.

So far, depite a flurry of meetings and phone calls including Chancellor Merkel, Germany has not been able to get Bulgaria to move. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, usually a major supporter of the Zaev regime, even acknowledged that Germany needs to look for the interest of its EU partners like Bulgaria as well.

Zaev travels to Berlin with Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, and will meet German state secretary Michael Roth and members of Parliament for the SPD party.