Sofia temporarily withdrew Ambassador Angelov from Skopje and announced the termination of interstate projects with Macedonia

PHOTO-BTA: Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria Nikolay Milkov

The Bulgarian ambassador to Macedonia, Angel Angelov, remains in Sofia until there are no signs of change in the country, and official Sofia will stop all interstate projects with North Macedonia, announced the Bulgarian Technical Minister for Foreign Affairs Nikolai Milkov.

Milkov and Angelov were heard today in the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Policy, and in a statement to the media, Milkov said that "if North Macedonia continues to behave like this, it is possible that Bulgaria will veto it again", and that "it is cynical to implement projects with North Macedonia while Hristijan Pendikov is lying in the hospital".

- Macedonia, in order to continue on its European path, must respect the obligations undertaken within the framework of the European proposal. There is no need for Bulgaria to do anything, but to ensure compliance with the obligations that Macedonia has undertaken. There are no deadlines in the proposal itself, they may not be met for decades, which means that negotiations will not begin, said Milkov.

He added in the statement that Sofia remains open to dialogue if projects for the protection of Bulgarians in North Macedonia are considered and they will be on the agenda.

 - If this does not happen, we can stop all other intergovernmental projects, warned Milkov.

According to him, Pendikov cannot lie in the hospital and receive threats to his life. That, as the minister says, speaks of complete impunity and the conviction that the Macedonian authorities will not identify those responsible for the attack on Pendikov.

- Within all international organizations, the issue will be raised in the EU, in the OSCE, as well as in the Council of Europe. Things cannot go on as before. It should be clear that things need to change, we will review a number of components and elements of our bilateral cooperation, says Milkov.

Regarding the statement of the Macedonian president Stevo Pendarovski regarding the proposal to ban the entry of Bulgarian citizens to the celebration of the birth of Gotse Delchev on February 4 in Skopje, he added that the Ministries of the Interior should resolve those issues in order to avoid such provocations.

Regarding the temporary withdrawal of the Bulgarian ambassador Angelov from Skopje, Milkov said that he will be in Sofia until there are signs of change.

- It is a sign of the hard relationship that it cannot continue like this. There are many statements, but we want actions, that is, punishments for the people who committed crimes against the Bulgarians in North Macedonia, added Milkov.

Dear reader,

Our access to web content is free, because we believe in equality in information, regardless of whether someone can pay or not. Therefore, in order to continue our work, we ask for the support of our community of readers by financially supporting the Free Press. Become a member of Sloboden Pechat to help the facilities that will enable us to deliver long-term and quality information and TOGETHER let's ensure a free and independent voice that will ALWAYS BE ON THE PEOPLE'S SIDE.

SUPPORT A FREE PRESS.
WITH AN INITIAL AMOUNT OF 60 DENARS

Video of the day