Debate about Bulgaria’s leverage over Macedonia

Fri, Feb 10 2012

Fri, Oct 30 2009 13:35 CET

byClive Leviev-Sawyer

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Debate about Bulgaria’s leverage over Macedonia

Macedonia's prime minister Nikola Gruevski reviews a Bulgarian military honour guard during an official welcoming ceremony in Sofia, November 28 2007.

Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski drew brickbats from Bulgaria’s top politicians for statements that Sofia interpreted as representing claims on its territory by Skopje – and some in Bulgaria have suggested that Macedonia should be reminded that it needs to keep to the straight and narrow (and its own borders) if it wants support for its bid to join the European Union.

Speaking in Australia on October 26 2009, Gruevski said that in that country, Macedonians had the unique opportunity to live together with their compatriots from Aegean and Pirin Macedonia and they should not divide into Vardar, Aegean, Pirin Macedonians, because there are only Macedonians.

The remark brought condemnation from Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov, and from Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov a reminder to "our Macedonian friends" that they needed to choose the path of EU values such as good neighbourly relations and avoiding making statement such as Gruevski’s.

Deputy Foreign Minister Marin Raikov added his own note of indignation, and several Bulgarian-language newspapers went into print with theirs, among them mass-circulation daily 24 Chassa which said: "Gruevski has presented Aegean and Pirin Macedonia as his own".

The same newspaper interviewed historian Georgi Markov who praised Bulgaria’s position of reminding Macedonia that its support for its Nato and EU membership bids was not unconditional (Purvanov had said this in reaction to Gruevski, but slightly longer memories will recall that it was also said under the previous government by Bulgaria’s then-foreign minister Ivailo Kalfin).

Markov said that individual Macedonians, the neighbouring country’s ordinary people, had ever-improving attitudes to Bulgaria but there was hostility among the Macedonian media, which was influenced by Belgrade.

Markov’s message was that if Skopje and Ankara (Turkey also aspires to EU membership) wanted to "play rough" they should be reminded that Bulgaria, as a member of both these organisations, held a "trump card".

Bozhidar Dimitrov, a historian who currently is minister for Bulgarians abroad and not a well-loved figure in Macedonia, was interviewed on Bulgarian National Television’s breakfast show on October 30.

Dimitrov repeated his theory that Macedonia’s political elite did not genuinely want the country to join the EU and Nato.

He linked this "suicidal policy" within Macedonia not only to Gruevski’s statements in Australia, but also to the Spaska Dimitrova case and the controversial encyclopedia episode.

Asked why Bulgaria should threaten to block Macedonia’s EU and Nato hopes – "why threaten them about something they do not want?" – Dimitrov said that "Macedonism" was a legacy of the Communist International and would be liquidated only when the country joined the EU and Nato. This was behind the opposition, he said.

It was sad, Dimitrov said, that the young people in charge of Macedonia – which, he said, had a cabinet with an average age of 34 and one minister as young as 20 – was dominated by the thinking of the early 20^th century.

In Skopje, Inpress said that this was "not the first time" that Bulgaria’s Prime Minister had set conditions for his Macedonian counterpart in terms of Nato and the EU. The reaction of Dimitrov, Inpress was expected "as he is ‘expert’ in Macedonian-Bulgarian relations and an ‘analyst on duty’."

On October 30, the Macedonian government posted on its website an interview Gruevski gave to MIA news agency, in which he said that he had made no territorial claims and that his remarks had been taken out of context.

"The statement is taken out of its context. With regard to the situation around the Macedonian community in Australia, in my statement I called Macedonians in Australia to share higher understanding and not to get divided on any issues, such as the troubles around the church, the 'for' and 'against' the administrator of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, or over their origin which is what you stated in your question," the agency story said, as quoted by Bulgaria's Focus.

"I said that there - in Australia, they live in one country and I meant Australia, and that they should respect each other," Gruevski said.

"I also added that even on the Balkans, when all countries join the EU and the frontiers fall apart, all nations on the Balkans will live in Europe without borders, just like in Australia where different ethnic Macedonians are living, with no regard to where they were born – Croatians, Greeks, Albanians and etc., coming from different countries.

"I also said that it is normal for human beings to enter into quarrels but that forgiveness is a common Christian feature. I called for understanding, unity and forgiveness," Gruevski said.

"Not only weren’t there any territorial claims but there was some promising and pro-European spirit," he said.

"The Macedonian issue should not be used for discord but for reconciliation and unification. I am sorry if someone has misunderstood my statement. I am consistent in my statements and what I say at home is what I say abroad," Gruevski said.