Bulgarian PM: Significant progress in the Skopje-Sofia negotiations

Petkov said that progress had been made in the negotiations on the joint commission for the history of Bulgaria and North Macedonia, which was agreed upon five years ago but had not produced results so far.

To lift the veto on the start of EU negotiations with Skopje, Sofia demanded that North Macedonia recognise that its pre-1944 history was Bulgarian, that it stop adopting some Bulgarian historical figures, stop alleged hate speech against Bulgarians, that Constitutional changes protect the Bulgarian minority, and that the EU provides mechanisms to control the implementation of those requests.

"Success comes when both countries show desire and cooperate," Petkov said.

However, a new problem occurred due to the census in North Macedonia, in which roughly 3,500 people declared themselves as Bulgarians. At the same time, Sofia claims that over 120,000 citizens of North Macedonia possess the Bulgarian passport, and tens of thousands more are waiting to get them.

Skopje says dual citizenship is only the result of the desire of Macedonians to become EU citizens, while for Sofia, it is proof of their Bulgarian origin.

Petkov said that in the next census in North Macedonia, there will probably be an option for citizens to declare themselves as Bulgarians, which has not been the case now, the same other recognised minorities have had.

The EU put pressure on Bulgaria to give up its veto and enable the start of accession negotiations with Skopje and Tirana, whose European path Brussels has connected.

Petkov and Radev also met with European Commissioner for Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi, who tweeted after a meeting that he had a good conversation with Radev and that there were "good prospects for resolving the remaining bilateral issues" between Sofia and Skopje.

https://twitter.com/OliverVarhelyi/status/1509576530623672329