“I have said, over and over again, that Bulgaria and North Macedonia do not have a bilateral problem,” said Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel, who is in Skopje to attend the meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

“Being a member of the EU, Bulgaria upholds its fundamental principles and values. When, one day, North Macedonia wants to become a member of the Union, it will have to demonstrate that membership means obligations and promises kept,” Minister Gabriel said, and called for creating a “positive agenda” between Skopje and Sofia.

At the Bulgarian Cultural Centre, Mariya Gabriel met with representatives of Macedonian Bulgarians, who acquainted her with their problems and their expectation that they will be solved. Minister Gabriel opened an exhibition “Plovdiv - city of mosaics”, and stated she believed in the power of cultural diplomacy, the Bulgarian news agency BTA reports. “History matters and it must be subject to discussion by historians, because every time cause is given to abuse it, it gets politicized and radicalized,” Mariya Gabriel said.