US President Joe Biden can not be allowed among NATO allies, one member state to "force" and harass another member state because it is bigger or as in the case of Bulgaria and Northern Macedonia, because it is a member of The EU, according to Edward Joseph, an American university professor and expert on the Balkans.

- That is already a NATO problem. We can not allow that. This is an alliance, NATO is an alliance, the United States can not tolerate aggression against identity, use of force, in this way. This is serious, not a small issue. The identity of the people is related to the identity of the state, to the progress of the state, to the internal stability and the good relations between the Macedonians and the Albanians, which is in our interest. On the other hand, Vladimir Putin is interested in divisions and conflicts. Divisions between Bulgarians and Macedonians, divisions between Albanians and Macedonians, between Serbs and Kosovars, all this. "Putin wants it in Ukraine, he wants it in the Balkans, divisions, conflicts, while the US interest is to stop it all, starting with the affirmation in the official written form of the Macedonian identity," Joseph said in an interview with TV Klan Macedonia.

According to him, in that way, with the American affirmation of the Macedonian identity, nation and language, a message will be sent to Sofia: "You will never win, you will never erase the Macedonian identity".

He believes that this is the signal needed in Bulgaria by Bulgarian leaders, such as Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, who want to resolve the issue.

- They give space to the historians in the joint commission to discuss, on an expert basis, and not on the basis of force, such as "we are stronger than you, so we do not have to respect the provisions of the Friendship Agreement, you must listen to our version of history, by force ”. It is against the principles of NATO, the EU and the United States, adds Joseph.

According to him, after the fall of Petkov's government, Stefan Janev could return to Bulgaria as technical prime minister, who as Russian Defense Minister called the Russian aggression against Ukraine a "special military operation".

- So we will have a man of Putin, who will again host the show in Bulgaria, a member of NATO and the EU. That is a big problem for President Biden. That is a big problem for NATO. Additionally, in Northern Macedonia we have a loyal NATO member, a country that provides full support to Ukraine. We know that the country's leadership, President Stevo Pendarovski and Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski will face sharp criticism, concerns and attacks. We have already seen that from VMRO, from Hristijan Mickovski. So there were already reactions to the French proposal here. This means that President Biden will have a double crisis here. "Relations between the two NATO allies will deteriorate, and that is a concern for the United States," said Joseph.

Asked to comment on the "French proposal", Joseph said he did not believe France and its president, Emmanuel Macron, had "bad motives", but that the problem wasis in the "weakness and powerlessness of the European Union".

- So Macron, like other EU countries, and of course the United States, although not a member of the EU, wants the veto to be lifted and Northern Macedonia and Albania to be able to start negotiations. They are desperate to lift the veto. But the problem is that they are very weak, and Bulgaria is taking advantage of that situation, abusing it, abusing the EU process. The rules, the EU protocols say that you must not introduce bilateral issues in the accession process. That process refers to something else - whether Northern Macedonia meets the conditions, whether it implements reforms and the rule of law and other issues, but not for complaints about history and language, said Joseph.

He believes that in the current EU conditions, the United States is needed "to stop Putin in Ukraine and to stop the aggression against the identity and the harassment from Bulgaria."

- The United States needs to get involved and encourage Northern Macedonia that Washington recognizes the Macedonian identity and send a signal to Bulgaria that "it will never achieve its goal, it will never erase the Macedonian identity." That is the key, Joseph concludes in the interview.