Misplaced Pages

Bulgaria–North Macedonia relations

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 46.217.186.173 (talk) at 21:11, 14 January 2025 (Undid revision 1269452155 by Fneskljvnl (talk) FASISM TOWARDS MACEDONIA). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 21:11, 14 January 2025 by 46.217.186.173 (talk) (Undid revision 1269452155 by Fneskljvnl (talk) FASISM TOWARDS MACEDONIA)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Bilateral relations
Bulgaria–North Macedonia relations
Map indicating locations of Bulgaria and North Macedonia

Bulgaria
North Macedonia

Bulgaria–North Macedonia relations are the bilateral relations between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia. Both countries are members of the Council of Europe, and NATO. Bulgaria is a member of the European Union. Bulgaria was the first country to recognize the independence of its neighbour in 1992. Both states signed a friendship treaty in 2017. North Macedonia has been attempting to join the EU since 2004, while EU governments officially gave their permissions to enter accession talks in March 2020. Nevertheless, North Macedonia and Bulgaria have complicated neighborly relations, thus the Bulgarian factor is known in Macedonian politics as "B-complex".

In 2020, Bulgaria offered a compromise and agreed to recognize the Macedonian language and national identity if North Macedonia would recognize both nations and languages have common historical roots. This proposal was rejected by North Macedonia as threatening. The acknowledgement of Bulgarian influence on the Macedonian history is highly problematic for many Macedonians, because it clashes with the post-WWII Yugoslav Macedonian nation-building narrative, which was based on a deeply anti-Bulgarian stance. Another revisionist strand of the Macedonian historiography is that their national history had already been taken earlier by the Bulgarian national historiography. The resurgence of Bulgarian irredentism due to the deepening of chauvinism and national historical myths in post-Communist Bulgaria has awarded Macedonia a place in Bulgarian nationalism akin to that of Kosovo in Serbian ideology, as Bulgarians are frustrated with the existence of a Macedonian nation, which they consider "artificial", and of a Macedonian language, which they consider a dialect of Bulgarian.

History

See also: Political views on the Macedonian language, Macedonian historiography, Macedonism, Greater Bulgaria, and Macedonian Bulgarians

Friendship treaty and beyond

The Governments of Bulgaria and North Macedonia signed a friendship treaty to bolster the relations between the two Balkan states on 1 August, 2017. The so-called Treaty of Friendship, Good-Neighbourliness and Cooperation was ratified by the Parliaments of the Republic of North Macedonia and Bulgaria on 15 and 18 January 2018, respectively. 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.

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. 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." 30 Bulgarian historians, scholars and professors published a letter opposing the memorandum sent by the Bulgarian government to EU member states, in which they argued that Macedonian ethnogenesis is similar to that of other nations and rejected its presentation as a product of "Yugoslav propaganda" along with the official Bulgarian interpretation of a common Bulgaro-Macedonian history as unilaterally Bulgarian. The Bulgarian proposal was rejected by North Macedonia. Macedonian President Pendarovski and Prime Minister Zaev announced that they were neither negotiating nor would ever negotiate whether the Macedonian language and identity were related historically to Bulgaria. As a result, on November 17, 2020, Bulgaria refused to approve the European Union's negotiation framework for North Macedonia, effectively blocking the official start of accession talks with this country. Germany and the EU institutions criticized Sofia's unconstructive behavior. According to Polish political scientist Tomasz Kamusella, Bulgaria's EU membership should not be weaponized as an instrument of pressure on EU candidate states to spread Bulgarian ethnopolitical influence across the region, from Moldova to North Macedonia and Albania.

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. The interview sparked controversy and was followed by a wave of nationalism in Skopje, as well by protests demanding Zaev's resignation. According to the opinion of the former Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubčo Georgievski, who insists on the Bulgarian roots of the Macedonians, these reactions were the result of ignorance, hypocrisy or politicking. He noted that the “deep state” in North Macedonia disrupted the normal relations between the two countries. It built hatred and enmity towards Bulgaria. On the other hand, another former Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski, who was appointed as Zaev's envoy to Bulgaria, also had 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. These actions have been condemned strongly by Stevo Pendarovski, President of North Macedonia, and by Ekaterina Zakharieva, Foreign Minister of Bulgaria. In late March 2021, a scandal erupted in Bulgaria after it was discovered that the Macedonian government under Zoran Zaev had been funding an institute called the International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) between 2017 and 2020. IFIMES published a number of articles that described Bulgaria and Germany as “mafia states interested in Nazism”. This was perceived in Bulgaria as a defamation campaign funded by North Macedonia in order to discredit Bulgaria in front of its EU partners. The government of North Macedonia has denied these claims by the Bulgarian side. On 24 January, 2022, the two new prime ministers, Kiril Petkov of Bulgaria and Dimitar Kovačevski of North Macedonia, met in Skopje, seeking to improve relations talks and discussing EU negotiations and other issues to resolve. On 24 June 2022, under heavy EU pressure, Bulgaria's parliament approved the lifting of the country's veto on opening EU accession talks with North Macedonia.

Resident diplomatic missions

  • Bulgaria has an embassy in Skopje and consulate-general in Bitola.
  • North Macedonia has an embassy in Sofia.

See also

References

  1. Kyril Drezov, Bulgaria and Macedonia: Voluntary Dependence on External Actors in Democratic Consolidation in Eastern Europe Volume 2: International and Transnational Factors with Jan Zielonka and Alex Pravda as ed., Oxford University Press, 2001; ISBN 0199241686, pp. 413-414.
  2. Paul Reef, Macedonian Monument Culture Beyond 'Skopje 2014'. From the journal Comparative Southeast European Studies. https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2018-0037
  3. Marinov, Tchavdar (2011). "National Myths in Post-Communist Bulgaria and Their Criticism" (PDF). Euxeinos (2): 7–8.
  4. "Bulgaria pledges to champion Macedonia's EU and NATO dreams". 2 August 2017.
  5. "Macedonian Parliament Ratifies The Declaration of Cooperation With Bulgaria". Archived from the original on 2018-01-15. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  6. Georgi Gotev, Borissov warns North Macedonia against stealing Bulgarian history. EURACTIV.com. Jun 20, 2019.
  7. Sinisa Jakov Marusic, Bulgaria Sets Tough Terms for North Macedonia’s EU Progress Skopje. BIRN; October 10, 2019. Archived 11 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Бартер със Скопие - минало за настояще, в-к Труд, 29.10.2020 г.
  9. "Bulgarian historians oppose Bulgaria's policy towards Macedonia". Republika English. 2020-10-05. Retrieved 2024-06-02.
  10. България признава македонския език и идентичност. Компромисът е македонците да признаят, че историческите им основи са български, но те се дърпат. в-к Сега, 29 Окт. 2020 г.
  11. Bulgaria blocks EU accession talks with North Macedonia. Nov 17, 2020, National post.
  12. Andrew Rettman (9 December 2020). "Germany apologises to Skopje for Bulgaria fiasco". euobserver.com.
  13. Tomasz Kamusella. 2021. Bulgaria’s Secret Empire: An Ultimatum to North Macedonia (pp 155-212). Journal of Balkan and Black Sea Studies. No. 6.
  14. Зоран Заев: Договорът с България ще бъде закон. Меdiapool публикува интервюто на Любчо Нешков, собственик на информационната агенция БГНЕС. 25 November, 2020; Mediapool.bg.
  15. Sinisa Jakov Marusic, North Macedonia PM’s Remarks About History Hit a Nerve. BIRN, November 26, 2020.
  16. VMRO-DPMNE leader Mickoski demands PM Zaev's resignation, announces more protests. MIA, 26 November 2020 Archived 19 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine.
  17. Любчо Георгиевски: Хората са шокирани от Заев, защото не познават миналото. Епицентър, 28 ноем. 2020.
  18. "Skopje condemns a video with a burning Bulgarian flag". bnr.bg. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  19. Öztürk, Talha (15 January 2021). "North Macedonia condemns burning of Bulgarian flag". Anadolu Agency.
  20. Georgievski, Nenad. "Macedonian President Pendarovski and the Foreign Affairs Ministry condemned the burning of the Bulgarian flag at the Vevchani Carnival | Meta.mk". Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  21. ^ "Latest publication by Slovenian IFIMES rekindles tensions between Bulgaria and North Macedonia". Independent Balkan News Agency. 2021-03-29. Archived from the original on 2021-04-26. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  22. ^ Nikolov, Krassen (2021-03-29). "Sofia suspects Skopje for anti-Bulgarian PR". www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  23. "Захариева: Очакваме отговор от РСМ за клеветническата кампания срещу България". БГНЕС (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  24. "Zaev's Advisers Call Bulgaria And Germany Mafia States As Well As Fans of Nazism". Bulgaria Business Insider. 2021-03-26. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  25. "Владата демантира каква било поврзаност со анализите на ИФИМЕС за Бугарија".
  26. Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "New prime ministers reboot Bulgaria-North Macedonia relations | DW | 24.01.2022". DW.COM. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  27. "Bulgarian parliament votes to lift veto on EU accession talks with North Macedonia". France 24. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
Bulgaria Foreign relations of Bulgaria
Africa Coat of arms of Bulgaria
Americas
Asia
Europe
Former
Multilateral relations
Related topics
Institutions and ministers
Diplomatic missions
North Macedonia Foreign relations of North Macedonia
Americas Coat of arms of North Macedonia
Asia
Europe
Oceania
Multilateral relations
Disputes
Diplomatic missions
Related
see also: Foreign relations of Yugoslavia
Categories:
Bulgaria–North Macedonia relations Add topic