In an interview for a local TV channel, North Macedonia’s President Stevo Pendarovski said he did not expect an agreement with Bulgaria in the coming weeks that would unblock his country’s path towards the EU. “Sofia has drastically shifted its policy towards Skopje over the past few months, showing it still cannot abandon the times of former Communist leader Todor Zhivkov”, Stevo Pendarovski said further.

On this occasion, MEP from the European People’s Party Andrey Kovatchev commented ironically on Facebook the words of North Macedonia’s President: “The Communist leader Todor Zhivkov made historical figures who lived long before him define themselves as Bulgarians- Tsar Samuil, Grigor Parlichev, Dame Gruev, Gotse Delchev, etc.”

In an interview for BNR, the longtime correspondent of the Bulgarian National Radio to Skopje Martin Minkov said that the lack of dialogue and staying in the current situation would have negative effect on Premier Zoran Zaev’s pragmatic government.