North Macedonia is preventing itself from joining the EU by failing to meet the membership criteria, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said at a joint press conference in Zagreb with his Croatian counterpart Zoran Milanović.

Radev stressed that Bulgaria would not back down in defending the rights of Bulgarians living in the former Yugoslav republic.

"We are still waiting for Skopje to fulfil a clearly defined condition that will open the door to negotiations," he said. This condition is that the North Macedonian government must guarantee the equality of Bulgarians in the country by including them in the constitution alongside the other state-forming peoples. 

"We have informed the European institutions and leaders of member states that we are not imposing any new conditions beyond those already agreed, but we insist that all agreed terms are respected." This was reported from Zagreb by BNR special correspondent Mira Stefanova.