Ekaterina Zaharieva

A project of a declaration in support of Ukraine's membership in NATO was submitted to the registry of the National Assembly by leading representatives of all parliamentary groups with the exception of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and "Vazrazhdane" (Revival).

With 37 votes "for", 166 "against" and 18 "abstentions", the parliament rejected a draft decision to terminate the Agreement between the governments of Bulgaria and the United States on cooperation in the field of defense, submitted by the pro-Russian party "Vazrazhdane" (Revival). GERB-SDS, WCC-DB, DPS and "There Is Such a People: voted "against", BSP abstained,

With 134 votes "in favor", 26 "against" and no "abstentions", the National Assembly in a joint project proposed by the Foreign Policy Committee declared the Holodomor in Ukraine in 1932-1933 a genocide and categorically condemned its perpetrators.

The decision also declares every last Saturday of November as a Day of Honor and Remembrance for the victims of the Holodomor in Ukraine.

At the suggestion of DPS and GERB and with the support of "There Is Such a People" and "Vazrazhdane", the meeting of the parliamentary commission, which was to hear Foreign Minister Teodora Genchovska on the French proposal for negotiations with North Macedonia, was postponed.

Four Bulgarian foreign ministers and six military officials called on political leaders to support Ukraine, including by providing it with the weapons and ammunition it needs. The call came before the NATO summit in Madrid in late June.

Saturday's opening of a Bulgarian cultural club in the North Macedonia town of Bitola named after Ivan Mihailov, a controversial 20th Century nationalist movement leader who became a Nazi collaborator, has been criticised as a threat to ongoing attempts to achieve a breakthrough in the two countries' dispute over history.

Foreign policy is absent from this election campaign. Moreover, voters practically do not ask candidates for this topic except for relations with North Macedonia.

Despite dozens of speculations about who will be GERB's presidential candidate couple, Boyko Borissov's party still has no decision on who to nominate, Club Z has learned.

Bulgaria has said it will not change its opposition to North Macedonia's accession to the EU following a meeting between Bulgaria's new caretaker Foreign Minister Svetlan Stoev and Deputy Prime Minister for Judicial Reform Ekaterina Zaharieva. 

Bulgaria is blocking Skopje due to historical and linguistic disputes. It is under growing pressure to change its stance.

Bulgaria's framework position on North Macedonia has been adopted with consensus by all political forces in parliament. We do not have the authority to change this position. The caretaker cabinet and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will do what depends on them to continue the dialogue, the new caretaker FM Svetlan Stoev said.