The Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, together with the Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Dimitrov and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani, today in Sofia will have working meetings with the Bulgarian state leadership, with the President Rumen Radev and with the Technical Prime Minister Stefan Janev. The goal is to find a solution to the controversial issues that Bulgaria has imposed on Macedonia in order to lift the blockade on Macedonia's European integration at the upcoming EU summit on June 22, which Prime Minister Zaev himself said yesterday that the chances are small.

He, like most analysts, estimates that the negotiations will not start now in June, but some progress is expected, especially after the strong engagement of the Macedonian diplomacy, but also the clear messages that came from the top of the USA, France, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal. , Spain and other countries.

Zaev: We do not talk about the Macedonian language

Prime Minister Zaev reiterated yesterday that they do not talk to Sofia about the Macedonian identity and the Macedonian language at all.

- It is not on the table at all. We are talking about the proposal coming from Portugal as chair of the European Council, which absolutely takes care of our Macedonian language and Macedonian identity, and at the same time takes care of the Bulgarian positions. That proposal is a really inventive and creative solution that is worth the effort - said Zaev.

He reiterated that the working groups have so far discussed the document that the Bulgarian side calls the Roadmap, and the Macedonian Action Plan, and that it establishes sectoral cooperation at all levels with specific deadlines. A third topic of focus in the talks is the intensity with which meetings of the Joint Commission on Historical and Educational Issues will be scheduled.

- These are serious successes that have been achieved so far. And I believe we need to give them a chance to finally find a solution - said Zaev.

Regarding today's visit to Sofia, he said that he is obliged to first tell the citizens his personal expectations, because he does not want to increase the expectations of himself or the people from what is real.

- Why is it real? Because there is neither a parliament nor a political government in Bulgaria. Thank God, there is a desire for talks and that is why we will use that desire for talks and we will pay a visit to Bulgaria where we will meet with the leaders of several political parties. Our official position is that the Portuguese proposal is a good basis for reaching a solution and the Bulgarian official position is that it is a good basis for a solution. We need to use this. If a solution is reached - great, if it is not reached, it will certainly be a positive step towards finding a solution as soon as a political government is formed - said Zaev.

He welcomed the Bulgarian people and their current and future leaders who, as he said, always say that they remain committed to the integration of Northern Macedonia in the EU.

- And we are really friends and brotherly people and they should show it in action. I understand that brothers can sometimes quarrel too. But Bulgaria is definitely obliged and should give its support to RS Macedonia because only in that way our friendship will grow, our cooperation will grow, Western and Northern Europe will respect us even more if we are even more cooperative and find more ways to we increase what is meant by everyday life in the cooperation of our people and our companies, so that these are benefits for both the Bulgarian and the Macedonian people. And I believe that politicians from both sides will be smart to find such a solution - said Zaev.

The first chance for a date for an intergovernmental conference is on June 22, ie June 24 and 25, when the European Council is being held. On October 6, said Zaev, the European Council for the Western Balkans is scheduled in Slovenia during the Slovenian presidency, which is the next chance for us.
Commenting on the accusations from the leader of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE Hristijan Mickoski, Zaev said that there were similar accusations that through the Prespa Agreement we will lose our identity.

- I will ask publicly, is it possible to lose a lost identity again? He was neither lost nor will be lost. Mickoski is probably lost, and if someone finds him, let him return him to VMRO-DPMNE, but I do not believe that there will be anything helpful there either. Said the Prime Minister.

Solution in stages

So far, the public is not aware of the content of the Portuguese proposal, although parts of it have been commented on by the Bulgarian media. It is known that it is proposed that the settlement of the dispute not be conditioned by Macedonia's negotiations with the EU, but that bilateral talks take place within the Stabilization and Association Process, where Bulgaria can not veto or block the negotiations. It is envisaged that both sides will vote on separate declarations, and the Macedonian side will confirm that the Macedonian language was codified in 1945.

Bulgarian President Radev Immediately after the proposal, Brussels asked Macedonia to provide legal guarantees for the agreement and demanded a "permanent and irreversible solution" to lift the veto. For that proposal Minister Dimitrov He said that he allows not to agree on everything now, ie the negotiation to go in stages - Macedonia and Bulgaria to now agree on those issues that are not disputed, and later on the others.

Prime Minister Zaev also hinted that at the meetings in Sofia it is possible to reach certain conclusions, which will later be confirmed by the political government.

As the prime minister prepares for the meetings in Sofia, Opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski again accuses him of treason.

- Is a new betrayal being prepared by the quartet Zaev, Buckovski, Osmani, Dimitrov in Bulgaria? This costly country quartet will travel to Sofia, where they are prepared to hand out a blank sheet of paper that Bulgarian politicians should load with demands, the same as those contained in the Bulgarian Declaration denying language, identity and history. of Macedonia - Mickoski wrote on Facebook.

A session of the Foreign Affairs Committee was to be held yesterday afternoon, where Minister Osmani was to reveal to the MPs what is being discussed with Bulgaria. The opposition VMRO-DPMNE blocked Skopje for several days, asking Osmani to report on the content of the Roadmap that Bulgaria insisted on.