The Bulgarian foreign minister Nikolay Milkov suggested solving the dispute between Bulgaria and North Macedonia by talking to each other.
He said, “We have a chance to solve our disputes with North Macedonia that existed for multiple decades that Bulgaria didn’t address seriously.
Now we have an apparatus adopted by the Bulgarian Parliament. It is a french proposal to begin the efforts to finish the controversial issues between Bulgaria and North Macedonia.”
Milkov said that since our relations with the RNM government are disturbed, some forces uplift false dilemmas with solid confrontation. Every country must get rid of a part of this false dilemma in the historical process before entering the European Union.
It is nonessential to talk to a particular political party; Bulgaria wants to speak from country to country. The institutions should not be used for repressive purposes. According to Milkov, “We need a lot of explanation from our Macedonian partners. If there are reports of violations, we should react immediately. We should monitor the situation with increased attention and send signals that we should refrain from practices in the past.”
Milkov also shared essential information about the subject of elections, “The preparations are in progress as we have the permission of elections from Russia. We will organise elections in our two self-governing offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The main objective is to cover the needs of the Bulgarian community. Ukraine’s situation is still unclear, and it relies on time. If the situation worsens, we must decide to cancel the elections due to military risks”. Milkov added that Bulgaria expects more than 150,000 and 200,000 people who can appear in these elections as voters.”
The relations between Bulgaria and Russia are growing with very little structure. In the situation that Russia is at war in Ukraine, Bulgaria does not have much room for manoeuvre. If there is an opportunity to improve the relations between Bulgaria with Russia, the chances are not high. It is helpful to avoid unnecessary tension with Russia.
