Pavle Trajanov, leader of the DS party which is part of Zaev’s coalition, told the Bulgarian “Dnevnik” daily that changes in the Macedonian Constitution will only happen if Bulgaria also amends its Constitution.

Bulgaria wants Macedonia to amend its constitutional preamble and to cite the Bulgarian nation among the constituent nations of Macedonia. Bulgaria, on the other hand, has a much stricter policy toward expressions of national identity for minority groups, and actively prevents the registration and activities of Macedonian minority groups – asking to list the Macedonians in the Bulgarian Constitution is likely to provoke outrage in Sofia.

How do we vote in the Parliament on this request? It will only be possible with reciprocity, Trajanov said.

VMRO-DPMNE holds the same position on the issue. On the other hand, the badly weakened Zaev regime is expected to go far in accepting Bulgarian demands and he already agreed to the constitutional change – but he doesn’t have the necessary votes.