Skopje

"Bulgaria to clear the problematic issues related to Skopje, so that North Macedonia and Albania can start membership negotiations in the first half of the year."

This was called for by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock after the meeting of European Union foreign ministers last night in Luxembourg.

Bulgarian students studying in Bulgaria and in other EU countries insist on monitoring the observance of the human rights of people with Bulgarian identity in the Republic of North Macedonia (RNM).

The requests were made in a petition to the EP. Its author is Zhivko Chakrakchiev.

It will be considered on April 21 by the parliamentary Committee on Petitions.

The leader of North Macedona's main opposition party, VMRO DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, joined the celebrations marking Viktor Orban's victory in Sunday's Hungarian elections at Orban's Fidesz party HQ in Budapest.

The government in the Republic of North Macedonia has declared five Russian diplomats persona non grata. This was confirmed by Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani.

First Secretary of the Russian Embassy in Bulgaria has been declared Persona Non Grata

68.9% of the people in Bulgaria believe that the country should maintain its firm position on the accession of the Republic of North Macedonia to the EU. Just over a fifth are of the opposite opinion - that our country should soften its position.

This shows a survey on the topic of the Gallup International Balkan Independent Research Program.*

Bulgaria has not promised a specific date for lifting the veto on the start of negotiations for the membership of the Republic of North Macedonia in the EU, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said in Blagoevgrad.

Bulgaria's President wants the Veto on North Macedonia to Continue and thinks Providing Weapons to Ukraine is a Risk

The official results of the September 2021 national headcount, published on Wednesday, show the country's population has shrunk by 9.2 per cent over two decades since the last census.

The population now stands at 1,836,713, which is 185,834 people less than the number recorded in the previous census conducted in 2002.

Perceptions of the EU as North Macedonia's biggest ally fell sharply from 43.2 per cent in 2019 to 13.1 per cent in 2021, the compared results of two surveys published by the Skopje-based think tank, Institute for Democracy - Societas Civilis, show.

Former German Deputy Ambassador to Bulgaria Gudrun Steinacker commented to Deutsche Welle on the problems between Bulgaria and North Macedonia. She was also ambassador to Skopje.

"I had the opportunity to talk with the Bulgarian Prime Minister Petkov on the sidelines of the Munich Conference after our recent meeting in Skopje." This was written today on his Facebook account by the President of the Republic of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski.

Bulgarian PM signed with Zelensky a Declaration of Support for Ukraine and Met with Boris Johnson