German Spiegel magazine reports on the growing dispute between Bulgaria and Macedonia, and says that Bulgaria is setting a grotesque precedent – of an EU member state pressuring a candidate country.

Bulgaria wants neighboring (North) Macedonia to officially declare that the Macedonian nation has Bulgarian roots and that the language of the country – the Macedonian – is a western Bulgarian dialect. And until the Macedonian Government accepts that, Bulgaria will not allow the opening of EU accession talks. After the Polish-Hungarian veto of the EU budget, the Bulgarian blockade of (North) Macedonia caused another crisis in the EU. Bulgaria is imposing a precedent in Brussels enlargement – one of using your view of history as a grotesque form of political pressure against a neighboring country, the paper reports.

Spiegel adds that Macedonia met all technical requirements to open EU accession talks and is now victim to nationalist domestic politicking. The magazine points to the protests in Bulgaria that come ahead of the general elections planned in March 2021, and says that Prime Minister Borisov is likely using the dispute to distract from his own political issues.