Our recent difficult relationship with our North Macedonian neighbors over a missing flag at a meeting in Sofia has worsened the tone between the two countries.
According to protocol, since the meeting was unofficial, this is not mandatory, but a scandal ensued.
RSM Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Nikoloski called the Bulgarians “wretched”. Prime Minister Hristiyan Mitskoski’s right-hand man pointed out that Bulgarians and Macedonians do not have a common history or common roots.
Can Europe block North Macedonia’s path to full membership? According to Prof. Ana Kocheva from the Bulgarian Language Institute at BAS and the journalist Milena Milotinova, the scandal was created voluntarily.
“This scandal has a specific purpose, but I cannot predict that this whole story will have a positive ending. Siljanovska-Davkova and Mickoski are two sides of the same coin in the RSM. As the president of this republic, he will maintain a moderate tone. We saw the hugs and kisses she exchanged with the president and the vice president in our country. Leaving a greeting and then an understanding increased this rhetoric from Mickoski and Deputy Prime Minister Nikolski. They are a current mouthpiece of anti-Bulgarian speech. But let’s not forget that in this same government there is also a deputy prime minister and his figure is very important and that is Ivan Stoilkovic – an ethnic Serb whom Belgrade expressed sincere gratitude for being in this position and who did not failed to announce that he hopes that he should work for the benefit of the Serbs in North Macedonia, but also for the interest of Belgrade itself,” said Prof. Ana Kocheva.
According to Milotinova, there are clear goals behind the scandal.
“Skopje made this artificial scandal to interfere with relations with Bulgaria and make it worse. This decline is their own fault. In my opinion, they wanted to use it as a justification for not implementing the examined documents: the Agreement between the two countries, the Negotiation Framework with the EU and the requirement to bring in Bulgarians to the Constitution, to justify them. non-implementation of the protocols to the agreement with Bulgaria, which is part of this Negotiating Framework and in which certain things are written, including about textbooks, about stopping hate speech, about monuments and so on. Last but not least, to justify the sabotage of corridor number 8, which connects them to Bulgaria, because they want to give it at the expense of corridor number 10, which connects them to Belgrade and Budapest. So Skopje’s match with Belgrade is clear. At the same time, they were told by Brussels that it was not possible to transfer money from Corridor 10 to Corridor 8. Corridor number 8, in fact, in addition to being a pan-European corridor, is also a corridor logistics is very important to NATO, and the RSM is a NATO member country. Thirdly, this fake scandal was also an attempt, albeit rather stupid, to put some pressure on Bulgaria from the outside. I hope it has become clear to them that this is not possible. After Charles Michel (the president of the European Council) told them this week in plain text that they must respect the European agreements and legally binding documents,” said the news of Milena Milotinova.
See more in the video.
2024-09-23 11:19:24
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