Zoran Zaev will meet with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev at the NATO summit in Brussels, in a new attempt to get Bulgaria to lift its veto of Macedonia’s EU accession talks. Zaev is in Brussels for Macedonia’s first NATO summit as a full member, but the occasion is overshadowed with the renewed blockade of Bulgaria.

Bulgaria does not have a Government in place – a caretaker cabinet is tasked with organizing early elections, which complicates the chances for reaching some kind of a deal in time for the European Council in late June, even though Zaev is seemingly prepared to make new concessions.

All such meetings bring benefits, we expect that a step forward will be made for a better future for all our citizens. I expect that we can find a solution through talks, Zaev said ahead of the summit.

US diplomats are involved in getting Bulgaria to end its veto, and Zaev had several visits to Brussels, Madrid and Paris, to drum up support for Macedonia’s EU accession talks. Failure to achieve this would lead to a major humiliation for the Zaev regime, after it imposed a name and identity change on Macedonia to placate Greece.