Following an increase in tensions in Macedonia, Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov cut short his election campaign to pay the country an urgent visit last Friday.

Kostov's trip was provoked by an agreement that the leaders of the two major parliamentary parties of the ethnic Albanians signed last Thursday with the National Liberation Army (NLA), the ethnic Albanian extremists who are fighting the Macedonian army.

Imer Imeri of the Party of Democratic Prosperity (PDD) and Arben Xhaferi of the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) came to terms with Ali Ahmeti, the political leader of the of the NLA, said Albena Ivailova, Kostov's spokesperson. The agreement for a common political platform and action to change the Macedonian constitution created a solid Albanian position in the country, which is a fundamental change in the situation there, she explained.

Xhaferi threatened he would leave the broad coalition unity government if western diplomats continued to insist that he and Imeri renounce the agreement with Ahmeti. Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski and NATO and EU diplomats had urged the DPA and PDP leaders to renounce the agreement, claiming it legitimised the NLA as a representative of the Albanian population. According to Trajkovski, by signing this agreement, the leaders of these parties officially stood on the side of the rebels, and in fact declared war on the Macedonian people.

During his visit, Kostov met with Trajkovski, Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, as well as Imeri and Xhaferi.

After meeting Kostov, Imeri said that they had a constructive dialogue. They discussed ways out of the crisis, and keeping the peace amongst different ethnicities in the country, as well as keeping good neighbourly relations between Macedonia and Bulgaria.

Defence Minister Boiko Noev said last Wednesday that the situation in Macedonia was very alarming but there was no direct military risk for Bulgaria for the time being.

On Tuesday, the two largest Macedonian and two largest ethnic Albanian political parties, with the mediation of the EU's Chief Commissioner for Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, reached an agreement in Skopje to resume political dialogue and keep the broad-based coalition government.