During a panel in Athens, Zoran Zaev insisted that the dispute he is having with Bulgaria is ridiculous and made-up. Bulgaria is blocking Macedonia from opening EU accession talks as it demands significant concessions on issues of national identity and history.

Zaev told the amused Greek audience that he can’t even explain what the dispute with Bulgaria is and asked the Bulgarian Government to allow Macedonia to make the first step, promising them they will have “three times thirty five” chances to block it further along the road (there are 35 accession chapters and a member state can block a candidate state during each of them). Zaev even asked Greece for help to persuade Bulgaria, which is currently in a political crisis and does not have a Government, to relent.

The dispute is a mirror image of the “name dispute” which Greece raised against Macedonia. Zaev grabbed power with help from international partners promising that he will resolve the dispute with Greece, which he did by accepting all main Greek demands and making concessions with the Macedonian name and identity. This raised Bulgarian appetites to make a similar deal with Zaev.