site.btaNorth Macedonia's Prime Minister Zaev Arrives for Meetings in Bulgaria

Sofia, June 17 (BTA) - North Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran 
Zaev is paying an official visit to Bulgaria on Thursday. The
guest met with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and held a
one-to-one meeting with caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Yanev.

At the start of the meeting with Zaev, the Bulgarian head of
State said that North Macedonia's European perspective is of
huge significance for Bulgaria. Radev also said that in view of
the unsolved bilateral issues, he expects North Macedonia to
have an ambassador in Sofia as soon as possible.

Zaev said that he and the ministers on his delegation to Sofia
are happy they are sending a message of friendship, cooperation
and goodneighbourliness between the two brotherly peoples. 
   
The guest thanked Bulgaria for the expected donation of vaccines
 against COVID-19.  

Radev said that he had raised the matter of this donation during
 Thursday's meeting with visiting European Commissioner for
Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides to have the necessary
final statutory specifications done by Brussels. Bulgaria will
make the promised donation of 50,000 vaccine doses to the
Republic of North Macedonia, the head of State noted.
 
Emerging from the meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart Stefan
Yanev earlier in the day, Prime Minister Zaev expressed the hope
 that the atmosphere of trust and mutual respect for the
national interests will continue in favour of seeking a
solution, because his country's and the Western Balkans'
European perspective is to the benefit of Bulgaria, the region
and the entire EU. "However, all of this should be within the
rules, the dialogue in which we, first and foremost, must clear
the issues among ourselves, so that we do not leave unsolved
problems in the European family," he specified.

Yanev said that Bulgaria's policy has remained unchanged for 
many years: it firmly supports the perspective of the Republic 
of North Macedonia, as well as of Albania and the other
countries in the Western Balkans on the road to their accession
to the European family.

In Yanev's words, the two countries currently have a window of 
opportunity to work on their unsolved bilateral issues,
particularly on the implementation of the 2017 Treaty of
Friendship, Goodneighbourliness and Cooperation. "At the moment,
 we strive to create a favourable environment - of trust and
friendship, of an honest conversation, of an open dialogue - 
that would help our specialists sit down and find the right
solutions, which would be presented to the societies in the
Republic of North Macedonia and in Bulgaria, and the political
leaders of the countries find the right solutions for us to move
 forward," the caretaker Prime Minister said.

He also said that Zaev's delegation had arrived with specific 
proposals, which will be discussed actively and professionally
as early as on Thursday and in the coming days.

On arrival, Zaev met with GERB leader and former prime minister
Boyko Borissov. GERB was also represented by former foreign 
minister Ekaterina Zaharieva, former MP Daniel Mitov and GERB 
Youth Chairman Georg Georgiev.

Borissov suggested that youth organizations from the two  
countries, regardless of their party affiliations, hold a forum.
   Unless a solution is found, young people will be faced with 
 problems and hatred will be with them for decades, he said.

Commenting on Zaev's upcoming meetings on Thursday, Borissov 
said: "I know the people you are meeting, especially Radev, he 
will tell you that nothing can be done without a sitting 
parliament, he will pass the buck to the parliament." The GERB 
  leader added that the caretaker government has every right to
negotiate but "they will evade responsibility, this is what 
they   always do; at the same time they lie to the Euro-Atlantic
 partners that they are in favour of the EU accession of the  
Republic of North Macedonia".
  
For his part, Zaev thanked the government, Borissov in his
former capacity as prime minister, and the Bulgarian Parliament
   for drawing back the EU's attention on the Western Balkans, 
not  just on the Republic of North Macedonia.

After his meeting with GERB representatives, Zaev met at his
request with Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader Kornelia
Ninova. Ninova told a news conference after the meeting that at
present Bulgaria is unable to consent to the start of EU
accession talks with the Republic of North Macedonia. She said
the BSP remains open to dialogue at all levels in search of a
solution because the party's principled position is that the EU
accession of the Republic of North Macedonia is a guarantee and
an opportunity for the development of the region.

Ninova said: "We welcome top-level dialogue, but we disapprove
of the hate speech in the Republic of North Macedonia, the
discrimination against people who identify themselves as
Bulgarians, and the distortion of historical facts and
historical truths."
 
Ninova said the party is aware of the great expectations from  
the BSP, which is a partner party to the ruling Social  
Democratic Union led by Zaev, and the two participate in the  
international organizations of Socialist and Socialist
Democratic parties. "We respect this friendship and partnership
but we place Bulgaria and the Bulgarian national interest above
it," the BSP leader said.

RI, RY, NV/DD, DS