Skopje

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

French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed a desire to support rapprochement between Bulgaria and North Macedonia, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov told reporters in Brussels.

He participated in the Informal European Council on the Crisis in Ukraine and in the EU-African Union Summit.

The Challenger

Military veteran Zdravko Ponos, the joint presidential candidate of United Serbia. Photo: Private archive

North Macedonia's police said it had dispatched patrols to keep an eye on the premises of an undisclosed hotel in Skopje where the group of 38 members of a little-known ultra-conservative Jewish sect called Lev Tahor was admitted on Tuesday.

Bulgarians in the United States are collecting signatures in a special petition to Congress against the so-called "Month of the Macedonian Minority" there.

The delegations of Bulgaria and North Macedonia landed at Skopje Airport with the first direct flight on the renewed line between the two capitals.

The First Flight Sofia-Skopje will be on February 11