site.btaGERB MEPs Urge EU Institutions to React Strongly to Beating of Bulgarian Citizens in Skopje before Football Game

The six Bulgarian members of the European Parliament who represent GERB in the Group of the European People's Party have urged the leaders of EU institutions to react strongly to the beating of Bulgarian citizens in Skopje before a football match, GERB said in a press release on Saturday.

In an open letter addressed to European Parliament (EP) President Roberta Metsola, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi and to chairs of EP committees, Andrey Kovatchev, Andrey Novakov, Eva Maydell, Asim Ademov, Emil Radev and Alexander Yordanov cite the facts surrounding the incident in Skopje, stressing that these are grave violations of human rights motivated by hate and condemning the aggressive treatment of the Bulgarians. 

The MEPs argue that this treatment did not result from football emotions and passions which often flare up during sport events, but the root cause of the aggression is the steady build-up of a hostile attitude to Bulgaria by politicians in North Macedonia, by media and academe there. 

"We find that the policy of hate for Bulgaria, which politicians in the Republic of North Macedonia have been pursuing for years, has already infected quite a few citizens, too," the letter says. The MEPs recall a number of attacks against Bulgarian cultural clubs in North Macedonia, assaults of people who identify themselves as Bulgaria, and the denial of entry to the country of a Bulgarian delegation including Andrey Kovatchev.

Four Bulgarian football fans on Thursday evening were assaulted in Skopje before a match between PFC Levski Sofia and the local FC Shkupi which they planned to attend. A 29-year-old Bulgarian male was stabbed and hospitalized after the attack. Nineteen citizens of Bulgaria and three nationals of North Macedonia were detained by police for behaving aggressively and breaching the peace.