Macedonia and Bulgaria: Political Relations

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  • vicsinad
    Senior Member
    • May 2011
    • 2337

    Macedonian PM: 'We Are not Only Friends with Bulgaria, but We Have Become Allies

    ''We are not only friends with Bulgaria, but we have become allies.'' This is what Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said in an interview with bTV.

    "Macedonia has won the neighborhood Agreement with Bulgaria and has lost nothing, we speak in a language that we understand, only together we can help each other and move forward," Zaev said.

    The Macedonian Prime Minister expressed firm support for the construction of Corridor 8: "We need economic connectivity from Drac, through Skopje to Bulgaria."

    He hopes that the political crisis that has hit the country in recent years when there is no freedom, and many innocent people have been sent to prisons, will never* be repeated again in the Republic of Macedonia.

    "We want to look forward to the future, not to go back," Zaev said.

    Comment

    • Starling
      Member
      • Sep 2017
      • 153

      So basically "The Nazis weren't Nazis". Now that's not an alarming development at all. What's he going to do next? Deny the Holocaust? Allies my ass.

      Comment

      • vicsinad
        Senior Member
        • May 2011
        • 2337

        Apparently, next Thursday Macedonian and Bulgarian governments will hold a joint session in Strumica where they will sign 10 new agreements.

        Заедничка седница на владите на Македонија и на Бугарија ќе се одржи в четврток во Струмица, а на неа ќе се пот


        Convenient: Strumica is where Zaev reigned for a while, and it's also a town that Bulgaria acquired in 1913.

        Comment

        • Solun
          Member
          • Sep 2012
          • 166

          On MRT vesti I heard him say that the statue in Strumica which currently states about murder at the hands of Bulgarian Fascists during WWII will be changed to murder at the hands of Fascists during WWII. Greece and Bulgaria are both in the EU so I assume there are no statues/plaques in Greece which make note of Bulgarian Fascists.

          Comment

          • Tomche Makedonche
            Senior Member
            • Oct 2011
            • 1123

            Bulgaria, Macedonia Agree to Drop Roaming Charges

            The Bulgarian and Macedonian governments, at their first joint session in Strumica on Thursday, signed cooperation agreements on energy, infrastructure and telecommunications.


            Bulgaria, Macedonia Agree to Drop Roaming Charges

            The Bulgarian and Macedonian governments, at their first joint session in Strumica on Thursday, signed cooperation agreements on energy, infrastructure and telecommunications.

            Bulgaria and Macedonia will drop roaming charges, according to a memorandum signed by the transport ministers of the two countries Ivaylo Moskovski and Damjan Mancevski, at a joint governmental session on Thursday.

            The deal foresees that the two governments will encourage mobile operators to sign mutual agreements that allow for a sustainable decrease in international tariffs for roaming services.

            During the joint session held in Strumica, Macedonia, and headed by the Bulgarian and Macedonian Prime Ministers, Boyko Borissov and Zoran Zaev, the two cabinets signed agreements on nine areas.

            They included foreign policy, transport and telecommunications, investment, energy, infrastructure, defence, tourism, and reactions to disasters.

            The two countries agreed, among other things, to cooperate on construction of a new gas interconnector and the pan-European corridor eight connecting the Albanian city Durres with Varna on the Bulgarian Black Sea, as well as a railway linking the capitals of Sofia and Skopje.

            “I hope that in the next three to six months, people will have cheaper roaming, that we have the opportunity for an alternative natural gas supply [from Bulgaria] ... and that all that we do translates into gains for the people of both countries,” Zaev said following the meeting.

            “People want jobs, people want to travel, people want to do business. We are obliged to provide them with this,” Borissov said, adding that he had backed the further European integration of the Western Balkans at meetings with the presidents of the European Commission and European Parliament Jean-Claude Juncker and Antonia Tajani.

            The joint government meeting between Bulgaria and Macedonia was agreed in August when the two countries signed a historic friendship treaty.

            Zaev announced on Thursday that the bilateral treaty will be ratified by Macedonia's parliament in December.
            “There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part, you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus and you’ve got to make it stop, and you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all” - Mario Savio

            Comment

            • Tomche Makedonche
              Senior Member
              • Oct 2011
              • 1123

              After several delays, Macedonia’s parliament on Monday approved a historic friendship agreement with neighbouring Bulgaria.


              Macedonia Approves Landmark Friendship Treaty with Bulgaria

              After several delays, Macedonia’s parliament on Monday approved a historic friendship agreement with neighbouring Bulgaria

              Despite a boycott by VMRO DPMNE, Macedonia’s right-wing main opposition party, 61 of the parliament’s 120 MPs voted for the agreement. The landmark accord was signed in August 2017 and aims to end the often fraught bilateral relationship between Skopje and Sofia and bring the two countries closer through an EU-oriented partnership.

              The agreement came after more than five years of negotiations between the two sides, the majority of which took place during the former Macedonian government led by VMRO DPMNE.

              Led by VMRO DPMNE, members of Macedonia’s opposition claimed the deal might hurt national interests and sat out the vote.

              “It would have been good if they [VMRO DPMNE] supported this agreement (…) especially because the need for this type of agreement came from policies that worsened [bilateral] relations to the extent that the other side insisted on signing it” Macedonia’s Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov told MPs in the parliament before votes were cast.

              Having been relegated to the opposition the VMRO DPMNE have accused Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and his Social Democrats of treason after he moved to resolve all outstanding bilateral issues with his Bulgarian counterpart, Boyko Borissov, and later signed the friendship agreement.

              The treaty, which was already ratified by the vast majority in the Bulgarian parliament, recognizes both countries’ territorial integrity, envisages the establishment of a commission that will try to resolve their differing views of history [link], and contains a pledge to protect the rights of the other country's nationals living on their soil – but not to interfere in the other’s domestic affairs.

              The agreement is seen as the basis of Bulgaria’s pledge to help its smaller neighbour in its bid to join NATO and the EU.

              Relations between Skopje and Sofia have been tense for years. Bulgaria officially recognizes Macedonia’s statehood, but has refused to recognise the existence of a separate Macedonian nationality or language. The two countries have also accused each other of discriminating against the national minorities in the other country.

              News of the the approval by the Macedonian parliament was met with praise in Bulgaria, with Sofia’s foreign ministry saying the move “confirmed that the will exists to build good neighbourly relations that are an important element of the European perspective for all countries from the Western Balkans.”

              “This is a strategic choice of our country, which falls among the priorities of the Bulgarian presidency of the Council of the EU”, the foreign ministry noted in a statement, adding that the bilateral friendship treaty with Macedonia is based on shared European values that will add to the region’s stability.

              Approval of the treaty occurred 26 years to-the-day when Bulgaria became the first country to recognize Macedonia’s independence from the former Yugoslavia


              __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ________

              The Macedonian parliament has ratified a friendship treaty with neighboring Bulgaria aimed at ending years of feuding and boosting Macedonia's bid to join the European Union.


              Macedonian Parliament Ratifies Friendship Pact With Bulgaria

              The Macedonian parliament has ratified a friendship treaty with neighboring Bulgaria aimed at ending years of feuding and boosting Macedonia's bid to join the European Union.

              Sixty-one lawmakers in the 120-member parliament backed the pact on January 15, with the main opposition party boycotting the session.

              The conservative VMRO-DPMNE party opposed the ratification, saying the pact contained "serious faults" and failed to recognize the existence of a Macedonian ethnic minority in Bulgaria.

              Ahead of the vote, Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov told lawmakers, "We are sending a message that even in our region we can maintain relations in a European way."

              Speaking during a visit to the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov welcomed the result of the vote in Skopje.

              "I hope that all countries, at some moment, will be signing this kind of treaties rather than waging wars," he added.

              Lawmakers in Bulgaria, already a NATO and EU member, had already ratified the pact, which was signed in August.

              The treaty recognizes both countries' territorial integrity and calls for an "objective" reexamination of the common history of Bulgaria and Macedonia, a process that could lead to a review of school textbooks.

              Under the accord, Bulgaria, a NATO and EU member, pledges to support Macedonia's efforts to join both blocs.

              Macedonia's rocky relations with its bigger eastern neighbor have hampered its efforts to join NATO and the EU, although the two countries share close religious, historic, and linguistic ties.

              Bulgaria still does not recognize the Macedonian language, which it views as a dialect of Bulgarian.

              Both Skopje and Sofia hope the new treaty will help them set aside such differences.

              The two countries said they would also improve economic ties, renounce territorial claims, and improve human and minority rights.

              The friendship treaty is a "joint contribution to political stabilization between the two countries and in the region," Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said in Skopje after co-signing the pact with visiting Bulgarian counterpart Borisov.

              "For the first time, without mediators or somebody telling us what to do, the two states came to a solution," Borisov said. The treaty "shows the EU that the turbulent Balkans, which have passed through a lot of troubles, can solve problems by agreements without mediators," he said.

              "If you look back, you will stumble and fall," Borisov said. "So we decided to look ahead. I am convinced that in 10 years the results will be visible."

              EU officials warmly greeted the agreement, which they described as “an inspiration for the whole region."
              Last edited by Tomche Makedonche; 01-15-2018, 07:30 PM.
              “There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part, you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus and you’ve got to make it stop, and you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all” - Mario Savio

              Comment

              • vicsinad
                Senior Member
                • May 2011
                • 2337

                LOMA's response to this treacherous agreement:



                LOMA Condemns Macedonia's Ratification of the "Friendship" Treaty With Bulgaria

                January 15, 2018

                The League of Macedonian-Americans condemns the disgraceful and self-capitulating ratification of the so-called “friendship” treaty between Macedonia and Bulgaria. The Macedonians should not, and do not, oppose improving relations with Macedonia’s neighbors. However, any agreement Macedonia signs with its neighbors must demand reciprocity and equality. Any agreement signed with Macedonia’s neighbors must have respect for, and acknowledgement of, the Macedonian ethnic identity and language.



                Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov said of the agreement: “It’s nice to treat neighbors as equals and create friends.” This is a very peculiar statement by Mr. Dimitrov, especially because he supported the ratification of an agreement that does not treat Macedonians as equals to Bulgarians. With this agreement, Bulgaria still does not recognize Macedonians as an ethnic group; Bulgaria still does not recognize the Macedonian language as its own language; and Bulgaria still does not recognize Macedonian history as separate from Bulgarian history. Macedonians, however, do recognize the existence of a separate Bulgarian ethnicity, language and history. Mr. Dimitrov: where’s the equality?



                Furthermore, on one hand, the Macedonian government insists they will not sign an agreement with Greece regarding Macedonia’s name that doesn’t respect and recognize a Macedonian identity. On the other hand, the Macedonian government then ratifies an agreement with Bulgaria that doesn’t recognize the ethnic Macedonian identity or the Macedonian language. Is Macedonia’s government hypocritical or clueless? Perhaps they are a little of both, but we think that the Macedonian government very well knows what it’s doing – sacrificing Macedonian national interests and democratic values and principles for the (unlikely) potential of achieving European prosperity.



                With the ratification of this agreement, the efforts of our forefathers – both the IMRO revolutionaries of the early 20th century and the World War II Partisans – have been seriously disrespected and compromised. Our grandparents and great-grandparents sacrificed their lives fighting against Bulgarian propaganda and Bulgarian occupation; now, their efforts have been erased with the stroke of a pen. And let's make no mistake: the Bulgarian nationalists and chauvinists are still advocating for the "Bulgarianizaiton" of the Macedonian people; Bulgaria's desire to covet Macedonia and the Macedonians has not disappeared. The ratification of this agreement is not a progressive step forward for Macedonia or for democratic values and principles. It is another dive into oblivion that will cost the Macedonian people and identity dearly.

                Comment

                • Tomche Makedonche
                  Senior Member
                  • Oct 2011
                  • 1123

                  Bulgaria-Macedonia Treaty Boosts Business Ties

                  Bulgarian and Macedonian companies are seeking new business opportunities as a result of the friendship treaty that the two neighbouring countries signed recently, businesses say.


                  Bulgaria-Macedonia Treaty Boosts Business Ties

                  Bulgarian and Macedonian companies are seeking new business opportunities as a result of the friendship treaty that the two neighbouring countries signed recently, businesses say

                  Bulgarian and Macedonian companies want to do more business together and make new investments in each other's markets since the two countries signed a friendship treaty in August 2017, business organizations say.

                  A recent survey by the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry showed the number of Bulgarian companies expressing an interest in business opportunities in Macedonia doubled in January compared to the same period last year.

                  While China remains the biggest market of interest for Bulgarian enterprises, 24 per cent of participants in the survey said they would like to visit Macedonia and find business partners there – twice the share of 12 per cent in 2017.

                  Lubomir Levicharov, an economic expert in the chamber, says the friendship treaty should lead to new infrastructure projects.

                  Together with Macedonia's “eventual” accession to the European Union, it has encouraged Bulgarian companies to eye opportunities in their neighbour's market.

                  The prime ministers of Bulgaria and Macedonia, Boyko Borissov and Zoran Zaev, signed the landmark treaty, which had been negotiated for over a decade, in August 2017 in Skopje.

                  The two parliaments ratified it in January 2018, putting the once fraught relationship between Skopje and Sofia on a new footing and bringing the two countries closer through an EU-oriented partnership.

                  The treaty envisages Bulgarian support for Macedonia's bid to join NATO and the EU, improving trade and transport infrastructure and easing customs and border formalities.

                  Later in August 2017, in a move to boost economic ties with Macedonia, Bulgaria's economy ministry announced that it was reopening its commercial service in Skopje, which had been closed since 2015.

                  “The positive political climate between the two countries is at its highest level for many years,” Vladimir Vladimir, the founder of the Bulgarian-Macedonian Business Club, established in Sofia and Skopje shortly after the signing of the treaty, told BIRN.

                  He said that Macedonia was an “interesting” partner for Bulgarian companies due to its proximity, the lack of language barriers and the fact that the two peoples know each other well.

                  “There are Bulgarian banks, insurers and other companies present on the Macedonian market, which creates a good platform and environment for doing business,” Vladimirov, who owns a company dealing in agriculture, added.

                  Bulgaria was the sixth largest trade partner of Macedonia in 2016 with a total exchange of some 430 million euros, and a trade deficit on Macedonian side of 41 million euros. This was a decline of more than 9 per cent compared to 2015.

                  The most traded goods between the two countries by far are metals, such as lead, copper and zinc and their concentrates.

                  Bulgarian FDI in Macedonia peaked in 2011, when it invested some 31 million euros. But investments then declined to just a few million euros each year.

                  However, according to the Macedonian Central Bank, Bulgarian investment started to pick up again in 2016, when the figure rose to 16 million euros.

                  Vladimirov added that both Bulgarian and Macedonian small and medium-sized enterprises use the services of his business clubs to seek new partners.

                  But he said both countries needed to significantly improve road and railway connections, as well as gas, electric and internet links, if business is to develop.

                  “Our expectations are more than positive. This time, surprisingly, the politicians did their homework well. Now it is time for the business to look to the future,” he concluded
                  “There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part, you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus and you’ve got to make it stop, and you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all” - Mario Savio

                  Comment

                  • Tomche Makedonche
                    Senior Member
                    • Oct 2011
                    • 1123



                    Endless accession talks loom amid notions of EU enlargement

                    Europe Letter: EU leaders gather in Sofia to reassure western Balkan states of future

                    Don’t mention the “E” word.

                    We are gathering once again in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, to do justice to its EU presidency priority, celebrating and reaffirming the “European perspective” of the nations of the western Balkans. Though it’s not to be said out loud, what is meant is the “E” word, enlargement – eventually – of the EU.

                    It’s the first time in 15 years that the union has had such a joint summit with the WBs, a reality not unconnected with the enlargement fatigue that set in with the last economic crisis and which has not been shaken off. Croatia slipped in since then, unnoticed, but that’s it!

                    So although Serbia and Montenegro are formally involved in accession negotiations, like those for Turkey, these are as endless as the proverbial piece of string.

                    And the EU will almost certainly agree to open the same endless negotiations with Macedonia (sorry, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or Fyrom, to give it its correct title) and Albania in June. As for Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo, well the “perspective” is very, very long.

                    In each of the six Balkan states, moreover, the pre-accession reform programme to bring their economy and administrative systems into line with the EU has barely begun, and is hugely arduous.

                    As a helpful journalist pointed out during a Brussels briefing this week on the summit, 15 years ago at Thessalonika the EU managed to mention the “E” word in the summit conclusions. How come, if everything is as rosy as the European Commission likes to suggest, we are only talking “perspective” this time?

                    Yet, remarkably, they’ll all be here today, and grateful, all understanding that the “E” word will not be mentioned. We are talking instead about assistance to “connectivity” in the region – infrastructure, motorways, airports, broadband, people – things the EU does really well.

                    Secessionist woes

                    Even getting here, however, hasn’t been easy. Five member states of the union don’t recognise Kosovo as a state – Spain, Greece, Slovakia, Romania and Cyprus – and such is his concern not to give the slightest comfort to secessionism at home (ie Catalans, for those of you who have not been concentrating), Spanish prime minister Mariana Rajoy is actually boycotting the gig on Thursday.

                    Serbia has been prevailed on to attend, but only just. But its casus belli with Kosovo is far more than just recognition. The Serb minority in northern Kosovo, supported by Belgrade, is in a state of permanent insurrection against rule from Pristina.

                    And bitterly embattled Greece and Macedonia will be meeting on the sidelines to see if they can hammer out an agreement on the latter’s name. North Macedonia? Upper Macedonia? No sign of white smoke yet. (Greece sees simple “Macedonia” as an expression of implied expansionist ambitions on its neighbour’s part, and will certainly block any further talk of its accession to the EU if the name issue is not resolved.)

                    It’s not all loggerheads, however, as a senior EU source pointed out to us in determinedly pot-half-full mode. Recently Bulgaria and Macedonia have signed a friendship treaty to resolve longstanding fractious differences. And Kosovo and Montenegro have agreed on a process for resolving disagreements over a border demarcation deal between the two countries.

                    But then there’s also poor Bosnia Herzegovina struggling with its unresolved ethnic divisions and a powersharing-based political system that is barely surviving.

                    Border issues

                    Occasionally someone pipes up to say that of course no one is going to be admitted to the EU while they are actively in dispute with their neighbour or have unresolved border issues. These are not disputes that the union would contemplate importing, though it did make an exception for Cyprus.

                    And there’s nothing to stop a member state once admitted from picking such fights and then expecting the union to side with it (Greece comes to mind).

                    A century ago, the Ottoman empire lost the Balkans from its sphere of influence and since then they have drifted rudderless, rooted in neither East nor West, gripped by poverty and unable to shake off the poison of nationalism and the wars it has fuelled.

                    European leaders have expressed concern over Turkey’s expanding influence in the western Balkans, particularly since Ankara has taken a more authoritarian turn. Speaking to the European Parliament last month, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, put Ankara and Moscow in the same bracket, saying he did not want the Balkans to “turn towards Turkey or Russia”.

                    There’s a lot at stake in Sofia – the EU’s determination to show the Balkan six that they have a future in its ambit is as much about demonstrating the effectiveness of the union as a peace project in this troubled region as with securing its own borders. Strategic and humanitarian imperatives merge
                    “There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part, you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus and you’ve got to make it stop, and you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all” - Mario Savio

                    Comment

                    • vicsinad
                      Senior Member
                      • May 2011
                      • 2337

                      Zaev will celebrate Ilinden with Bulgaria's PM in Blagoevgrad (Gorna Djumaja) in Pirin Macedonia.



                      Македонскиот премиер Зоран Заев и бугарскиот премиер Бојко Борисов утре во Благоевград заедно ќе ја одбележат 115 – годишнината од Илинденското востание, соопшти владината прес-служба.

                      Двајцата премиери ќе учествуваат на церемонијата на положување венци и цвеќе на споменикот на Гоце Делчев, на плоштадот „Македонија“ во Благоевград.

                      Ова ќе биде втора заедничка прослава, по потпишувањето на Договорот за пријателство, соработка и соседство помеѓу Република Бугарија и Република Македонија пред една година.

                      На одбележувањето на годишнината, ќе присуствуваат и министерот за внатрешни работи на Република Македонија, Оливер Спасовски, како и вицепремиерот и министер за одбрана на Република Бугарија, Красимир Каракачанов.

                      Comment

                      • Pelagonija
                        Member
                        • Mar 2017
                        • 533

                        Logically for most people on this forum, we can’t process or comprehend the thought process of the current government but its well known that Dimtrovs dad was pro Bulgarian, I’m betting that Zajeban deep down is probably similar minded as it’s obvious that he hates everything Macedonian. Having said that, Zaev is from eastern MKD, I’ve been to strumica once, people were very nice but I did not talk to anyone about politics. Does anyone have any experience with Macedonians from the east? are they patriotic? liberal? pro Bulgarian?

                        Comment

                        • Niko777
                          Senior Member
                          • Oct 2010
                          • 1895

                          Originally posted by vicsinad View Post
                          Zaev will celebrate Ilinden with Bulgaria's PM in Blagoevgrad (Gorna Djumaja) in Pirin Macedonia.
                          Nothing to celebrate in Bulgaria.
                          Ilinden is not a national holiday there.
                          When the public does celebrate Ilinden as a religious holiday, they do it on July 20th.

                          Comment

                          • vicsinad
                            Senior Member
                            • May 2011
                            • 2337

                            Originally posted by Niko777 View Post
                            Nothing to celebrate in Bulgaria.
                            Ilinden is not a national holiday there.
                            When the public does celebrate Ilinden as a religious holiday, they do it on July 20th.
                            I hear ya on that. But this is just another act in obedience to the Friendship Treaty with Bulgaria to celebrate "common holidays" that Macedonia has with Bulgaria. Second year in a row that Zaev will join Bulgarian politicians in celebrating Ilinden. To not do so in the future may become a treaty violation, so Bulgaria will argue, and then who knows what kind of problem they'll try to give Macedonia on the international stage.

                            Comment

                            • vicsinad
                              Senior Member
                              • May 2011
                              • 2337

                              Another Friendship Treaty obstacle: Bulgaria's Prime Minister tells Zaev that Macedonia's EU membership depends on what Bulgaria will say, after Zaev says Ilinden is a Macedonian holiday, hinting that Macedonia must accept that Ilinden was a Bulgarian event.

                              (FYI, article is in Bulgarian)

                              Зоран Заев каза преди дни, че Илинденско-Преображенското въстание е македонско.


                              Another reason to say no to both the Prespa Agreement and Friendship Treaty!
                              Last edited by vicsinad; 08-09-2018, 03:19 PM.

                              Comment

                              • vicsinad
                                Senior Member
                                • May 2011
                                • 2337

                                From the above article:

                                "Whether it is said intentionally or not, the responsibility lies with the person who has said it," Borisov said. According to him, the geographic rebellion may be both Macedonian and Thracian but historically Bulgarian.
                                We do not accept the teachings of a party that betrayed Gotse Delchev's bones to Tito's Yugoslavia, Zaharieva said yesterday regarding Ninova's statements.

                                Comment

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