We have done a great deal in recent years to make good progress on our path to European integration. We signed a historic agreement with Greece two years ago. We have also signed a friendship treaty with Bulgaria in 2017 and we have proven that we can behave in a European way. And now Bulgaria requires North Macedonia to officially declare that the Macedonian nation is of Bulgarian origin and that the country’s language, Macedonian, is a western Bulgarian dialect and we cannot accept that, PM Zoran Zaev said in an interview with the German Der Spiegel magazine.

In an article under the headline ‘Nation without a neighbor’s permit’, Der Spiegel writes that North Macedonia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2005. But again, and again neighbouring countries block the start of the talks: First the country had to change its name under pressure from Greece, now Bulgaria is setting new conditions.

“Some nationalists consider them Slavic-speaking Greeks. Others consider them southern Serbs or western Bulgarians. In their recent history, the Macedonians have never had it easy to be recognized as a nation with their own language. To this day, Macedonia is widely regarded by its neighbors Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, as an “artificial nation”,” Der Spiegel writes.

It states that the Bulgarian government wants to prove that the “Macedonian question” – one of the key political issues in the history of the Balkans – should not be explored only by historians. Bulgaria requires the neighbouring country of North Macedonia to officially declare that the Macedonian nation is of Bulgarian origin and that the country’s language, Macedonian, is a western Bulgarian dialect.

As long as the government of North Macedonia does not comply, Bulgaria does not want to consent to the start of EU accession negotiations with the Western Balkan country, Der Spiegel adds.

The magazine states that the decision on start of EU accession negotiations was due on Tuesday during a video conference of the European affairs ministers. But Bulgaria had previously announced that it would block the decision. After the conference, the Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva stated that North Macedonia did not meet the conditions.

Under the title ‘Is Bulgaria abusing its right of veto?’, the magazine states that after Hungary and Poland vetoed the EU budget, the Bulgaria’s veto on North Macedonia caused another crisis in the Union.

“Bulgaria is setting a new precedent in Brussels’ enlargement policy – it grotesquely uses its view of history as a political means against a neighboring country,” Der Spiegel underlines.

The magazine states that North Macedonia is a country with two million inhabitants, which has long since met all the technical requirements for EU accession negotiations. It is about how governments of individual EU member states abuse their right of veto for nationalist domestic political campaigns. In doing so, they are seriously damaging the EU’s credibility in its most important neighboring region, the Western Balkans.

In an interview with Der Spiegel, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, is disappointed by the Bulgarian stance, which he calls “absurd and ridiculous.”

“We consider ourselves Macedonians. Our language was codified in 1945 and has been recognized by the UN since 1977. It is a great disappointment for us that our Bulgarian brothers, with whom we have much in common, are blocking our path. Surely, we have the right to our own national identity,” Zaev said.

He said that the rest of Europe is unlikely to understand this dispute. But it contains a bitter message for the future of Europe because it affects fundamental EU values ​​such as ethnic and linguistic diversity.

Der Spiegel writes that North Macedonia has been an official EU candidate country for fifteen years. For a long time, Greece blocked the start of EU talks – it accused its neighbor of implicitly making territorial claims to the Greek region of the same name by using the state name Macedonia. The name dispute, however, had essentially to do with Greek domestic politics and not with alleged demands of Macedonia.

Last year it was France that blocked the start of negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania because it pushed for a reform of the EU enlargement methodology. It has now been implemented. Now the newest obstacle for North Macedonia is called Bulgaria, Der Spiegel adds.

The magazine states that North Macedonia and Bulgaria signed a friendship treaty in 2017, which has already made significant strides on contentious issues. But a few weeks ago, the Bulgarian government surprisingly presented a new catalog of demands on North Macedonia.

According to the magazine, Prime Minister Zaev suspects that all this is motivated by domestic political reasons. He is alluding to the months of anti-corruption protests against the right-wing conservative-nationalist government under Prime Minister Boyko Borisov. The parliamentary elections will take place in Bulgaria next spring.

For North Macedonia there should be another attempt in December to clear the way for the start of accession negotiations. However, it is uncertain whether Bulgaria will give in, Der Spiegel writes.

Prime Minister Zaev urgently warns against depriving his country of the EU perspective. “If this motivation no longer exists, it will not only slow down the reform process in the country. Then North Macedonia would also face the prospect of a new, radical nationalism which, as so often in the history of the Balkans, could turn into violence,” Zaev told Der Spiegel.