Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev said Sunday the country was a major regional electricity exporter and it was willing to increase its exports to North Macedonia in line with European energy market regulations and Bulgarian laws in the interest of Bulgarian citizens and businesses, according to MIA’s Sofia correspondent.

On Saturday, Radev held a bilateral meeting with President Stevo Pendarovski as well as a trilateral meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the sidelines of the commissioning of the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnector in Sofia. He said they had considered the possibility of the EU financially helping North Macedonia avoid an electricity crisis this winter.

Radev said this would depend on the decision of the European institutions, to which North Macedonia needed to submit specific requests. Asked about the current state of bilateral relations, Radev said talks between the countries were being held in a spirit of mutual respect and friendship. He added, however, that North Macedonia’s “true negotiations with the EU have not yet started.”

“They will begin only after North Macedonia adds the Bulgarians to its Constitution,” he said. The Bulgarian head of state also said the countries needed to resolve all outstanding issues that had been postponed for many years. “The discussion of our common history with the Republic of North Macedonia is inevitable.

“I expect the statesmen of this friendly country of ours to show political wisdom and build the Republic of North Macedonia’s European future free of historical ideologies,” Radev said.