The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Ekaterina Zaherieva, told BNT today that it is unacceptable that the right to self-determination is not recognized in Macedonia in the 21st century.

It is unacceptable in the 21st century for someone not to recognize the right to self-determination, she said.

Answering pre-election political questions for a poll in which 25 out of 24 viewers said that the dispute with Macedonia will not be resolved, Zaharieva said that Bulgaria had a consistent policy and demanded justice for the Bulgarians in Macedonia.

We are very consistent in politics. Some people there were very surprised that we said “no” to the negotiating framework. However, the position of Bulgaria is the same from 2019 – we believe that there is a slow fulfillment or lack of fulfillment of the tasks by the Macedonian side of the Good Neighborly Agreement with Macedonia. Previously, there was movement in all spheres, but from the beginning of 2019, when they became a member of NATO, inconsistent fulfillment began, said Zaharieva.

When asked about the Bulgarian citizens, she said that those 100,000 people in Macedonia are often intimidated.

We react in any case and hope that it will not happen again. Over 100,000 citizens also have Bulgarian citizenship and are sometimes intimidated. However, it is unacceptable in the 21st century not to recognize the rights of self-determination, said Zaharieva.