Bulgaria–North Macedonia relations

As France made last-ditch efforts to unclog North Macedonia's stalled EU accession process, currently blocked by Bulgaria, ahead of this week's EU summit, North Macedonian experts expressed strong doubts about the French proposal.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has said he does not expect next week's EU summit to pave the way for his country to start EU membership talks, blaming Bulgaria, Politico reported today.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and the European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi gave a press conference after their meeting in the Council of Ministers, at which the EU membership of North Macedonia was discussed.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev had a telephone conversation with US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried, the press office of the head of state announced.

"I cannot compromise with the rights of Macedonian Bulgarians. They must be in the Constitution." This was stated by Bulgarian President Rumen Radev in his half-hour speech at the opening of a conference on "European perspective for good neighborly relations between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia".

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev made a sharp statement to the authorities in the Republic of North Macedonia. He said, "it was high time the anti-Bulgarian ideology swirling in our neighboring country to stop."

Accusations against Bulgaria of provocation and calls for the suspension of the Good Neighborly Relations Agreement were voiced by Macedonian politicians and members of the public after the visit of Vice President Iliana Yotova and Prime Minister Kiril Petkov to Bitola last week, BGNES reported.

Saturday's opening of a Bulgarian cultural club in the North Macedonia town of Bitola named after Ivan Mihailov, a controversial 20th Century nationalist movement leader who became a Nazi collaborator, has been criticised as a threat to ongoing attempts to achieve a breakthrough in the two countries' dispute over history.

Svetlana Telpiz is a native of Moldova. However, she feels Bulgarian. "I want to tell my story of despair and endless waiting in the hope of obtaining Bulgarian citizenship," she wrote in a letter to the media.

"We have a clearly written coalition agreement, which we strictly abide by. We observe all our actions to be in unison with it. As Prime Minister, I have no right in any way, nor will I try to make any agreements, we have a framework position, a declaration." This was stated by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov about Bulgaria's position towards North Macedonia.