Bulgaria's foreign ministry: Two Macedonian opposition parties artificially provoke tensions between Sofia and Skopje

According to Bulgaria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there is an obvious attempt of two Macedonian opposition parties to artificially provoke tensions between Sofia and Skopje and to divert attention from the struggle of the Bulgarians in North Macedonia for civil rights. The occasion for this comment was the upcoming opening of a Macedonian club in Blagoevgrad named after the poet Nikola Vaptsarov.

On the subject of Schengen, the foreign ministry said it was convinced of Bulgaria's entry into the area on 9 December despite the Netherlands' opposition.

There are no problems and both countries, Bulgaria and Romania, meet the conditions for Schengen membership, deputy minister Kostadin Kodzhabashev said two days ago.

"We are continuing the dialogue at all levels, including with the representatives of the Netherlands, so that we can succeed with the set goal - on 9 December this year the Council of the European Union unanimously to support the Schengen membership of the two countries," Kodzhabashev said.

As for the future Macedonian club in Blagoevgrad, the deputy minister said the Foreign Ministry has no practice to comment on actions of a private nature. He added, however, that the problem is that such an event is promoted by the two main opposition parties in the Republic of North Macedonia.

"It is no secret that these two parties profess anti-European beliefs and pursue policies against North Macedonia's European integration. It is obvious that through the visit of these two parties to Blagoevgrad and their actions, an attempt is being made to artificially provoke tension between the people on both sides of the border. Obviously, this is a distraction from the just struggle of the Bulgarians in North Macedonia for civil rights", he said.

Kodzhabashev urged the public to approach the opening of the club with calm. He stressed that Nikola Vaptsarov's family had not given permission for the use of the poet's name and once again underlined his Bulgarian self-identification.

It has also become clear that the club is financed by the Canadian emigrant Bill Nikolov, who advocated extreme anti-Western theses. Today ministry officials protested symbolically with tricolour on their lapels. They are demanding higher salaries and indexation of travel allowances. They were convinced that the management wanted to silence their strike by handing out, today, the biggest size of bonuses in years.