Bulgaria–North Macedonia relations

On January 15, 1992 Bulgaria was the first country to recognize the independence of the then-Republic of Macedonia.[2] Bulgaria has however refused to recognise the existence of a separate ethnic Macedonian nation[3][4][5] and a separate Macedonian language. It argues that the ethnic Macedonians are a subgroup of the Bulgarian nation,[6][7][8] and that the Macedonian language is a Bulgarian dialect.[9][10] This leads to some complications when signing treaties between these countries—they are signed with this long phrase in the end: "done in the official languages of the two states—Bulgarian language, according to the Constitution of Bulgaria and Macedonian language, according to the Constitution of the Republic of North Macedonia".[11] North Macedonia has developed its relations with Bulgaria in the political, economic, and military spheres. The governments of the two countries work to improve business relations. Bulgaria supports their neighbour's bid to enter the EU and NATO. Bulgaria has also donated tanks, artillery, and other military technology to the Army of North Macedonia. The rules governing good neighbourly relations agreed between Bulgaria and North Macedonia were set in the Joint Declaration of February 22, 1999 reaffirmed by a joint memorandum signed on January 22, 2008 in Sofia.[12]

Reacting to the publication of a controversial[13][14][15][16][17] encyclopedia by the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU) in 2009, Bulgaria warned that "it is unacceptable for a country aspirant for NATO and EU membership to resort to terminology typical for the ideology of the Cold War era," and that the encyclopedia "gives no contribution to strengthening of the neighborly relations and curbing down of the 'hatred speech'."[18] In connection with the administrative, police and other types of pressure allegedly being exercised on citizens of Bulgaria and citizens of North Macedonia with Bulgarian self-identification in North Macedonia, on August 4, 2009 the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry declared that "Bulgaria will examine the approach of the Macedonian side in such cases as one of the criteria on the basis of which to assess the country's readiness to make the changes that would allow the European integration of the Republic of North Macedonia."[19] Bulgaria has proposed to sign a treaty (based on that 1999 Joint Declaration) guaranteeing the good neighbourly relations between the two countries, in order to enable Bulgarian support for the accession of North Macedonia to the European Union.[20][21] During the last few years thousands of citizens of North Macedonia have applied for Bulgarian citizenship (amongst them North Macedonia's former PM Ljubco Georgievski[22]), with more than 80,000 having already received Bulgarian passports. In order to obtain the passport, the citizens of North Macedonia who apply for Bulgarian citizenship must prove that they have a Bulgarian origin and a Bulgarian national consciousness. Between January 1 to November 18, 2011, the Bulgarian council for citizenship considered 22,241 applications for citizenship, of which 13,607 were approved.[23][24][25]

The governments of Bulgaria and North Macedonia signed a friendship treaty to bolster the relations between the two Balkan states in August 2017.[26] The treaty was ratified by the parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia and Bulgaria on 15 and 18 January 2018 respectively.[27] A Joint commission on historical and educational issues was formed in 2018 to serve as a forum where controversial historical and educational issues could be raised and discussed. According to the reports, this commission has made little progress in its work for a period of one year.[28] In October 2019, Bulgaria set out a “Framework position” warning that it would block the EU accession process unless North Macedonia fulfilled a number of demands regarding what Bulgaria perceived as "anti-Bulgarian ideology" in the country.[29] In October 2020, Bulgaria offered a compromise and agreed to recognize the Macedonian language and Macedonian identity if North Macedonia recognizes that they historically had Bulgarian roots. Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said that "just as we are ready to acknowledge the reality, so they must acknowledge the past." This proposal was rejected from North Macedonia. As result on November 17, 2020, Bulgaria has refused to approve the European Union’s negotiation framework for North Macedonia, effectively blocking the official start of accession talks with this country.[30] In an interview with Bulgarian media in November 2020, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev acknowledged many historical facts about the common history of both peoples, that have been altered and concealed for decades in North Macedonia.[31] The interview was a shock and was followed by a wave of nationalism in Skopje[32] as well by protests demanding Zaev's resignation.[33] According to the opinion of the former Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubčo Georgievski, who insists on the Bulgarian roots of the Macedonians, these reactions are the result of ignorance, hypocrisy or politicking.[34] He noted that the “deep state” in North Macedonia disrupts the normal relations between the two countries. It builds hatred and enmity towards Bulgaria. On the other hand, another former Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski, who was appointed as Zaev’s envoy to Bulgaria, has also strong pro-Bulgarian positions and claims Macedonians and Bulgarians were a single people, separated intentionally by the Yugoslav policy during the 20th century. Expressions of anti-Bulgarian sentiment remain a serious concern with the repeated burning of Bulgarian flags.[35][36] These actions have been condemned strongly by Stevo Pendarovski, President of North Macedonia, and by Ekaterina Zakharieva, Foreign Minister of Bulgaria.[37]