Its prime minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski, accused Bulgaria of behaving towards his country like Russia towards Ukraine.

“The rhetoric used by Bulgaria towards North Macedonia is, unfortunately, very similar to the rhetoric used by the Russian Federation towards Ukraine. It is unacceptable to abuse such baseless accusations for political purposes, especially at this critical time in Europe’s history. North Macedonia is internationally recognized as a successful, modern multi-ethnic society and democracy, and all international human rights reports confirm this” Dimitar Kovacevsky said yesterday, speaking to Council of Europe meeting in the Reykjavik, Iceland.

The reason for this position of the Prime Minister of North Macedonia was the accusations launched earlier yesterday from Reykjavik by the Vice President of Bulgaria, Iliana Yotova, for “systematic violation of the rights of Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia”.

Relations between the two countries have remained particularly problematic in recent years.

THE Bulgaria for the past two years it has prevented the start of North Macedonia’s accession negotiations with the EU due to open ethnic, linguistic and historical differences between the two countries, which has provoked strong reactions from Skopje.

However, last summer, the two countries reached an agreement, based on a proposal from the European Union, under which Sofia would lift its veto on Skopje’s opening of accession negotiations with the EU, provided that North Macedonia will proceed to amend its Constitution, with the inclusion in it of the Bulgarian minority living in the country.

This agreement provokes strong reactions from North Macedonia’s largest opposition party, the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE, which has declared in all tones that it will not consent to such an amendment to the country’s Constitution.

Amending the Constitution of North Macedonia requires a 2/3 majority in Parliament, which the government in Skopje and the parties supporting the agreement with Bulgaria do not currently have.

According to the last population census carried out in 2021 in North Macedonia, Bulgarians make up only 0.2% of the country’s population (a total of 3,500 people), a fact which the official Sofia disputes and considers that the percentage of Bulgarians in North Macedonia it is much larger.