ZORAN IVANOV

The visit of the new Bulgarian Prime Minister to Skopje announced for the 18th of this month, has stirred many negative reactions in Sofia political circles these days, mainly by those with mental-political remnants from the “Zivkovist” era.

They oppose to the decision of their new pro-European Prime Minister for him coming to Skopje first, instead of the Prime Minister of North Macedonia coming to Sofia first. This, as they mainly point out, should be a visit of “hand-kissing”. According to their logic, North Macedonia is the one that should be kneeling before Sofia, and not the other way around, for Sofia to be begging Skopje for a compromise.

But these persons with influence in the Bulgarian public, identical to ours with influence in the Macedonian public, are not noticing what can be seen even from a plane.

Namely, that Petkov is coming to Skopje first with the purpose to manifest pro-European cooperation for the needs of the “Brussels market” and to add a point plus for himself, and not with the intention or any possibility for Sofia to unblock Skopje.

The man from Harvard knows very well that even if he wanted to, with the chauvinism of his government partners Slavi Trifunov and Cornelia Ninova, as well as President Rumen Radev, that it is an impossible mission even for him and that the Bulgarian blockade of Macedonia’s path to the EU remains closed and uncertain.

Therefore, let’s not have too much euphoria in the Bulgarian democratic and pro-European “minority” and in the Macedonian too optimistic and pro-European “majority” about Petkov’s visit to Skopje and especially about the act that, despite the shock by part of the Bulgarian political public, he is coming to Skopje first instead of the other way around.

Translation: N. Cvetkovska