One on departure, the other on arrival, Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov have vowed to speed up communication between Skopje and Sofia to resolve disputes. The reason for the telephone conversation was Zaev's congratulations to Petkov for taking over the top executive in Sofia, but used as perhaps one of Zaev's last attempts as prime minister to directly try to persuade official Sofia to lift the veto to start negotiations between the EU and the Macedonia, skopje's Thelma TV channel reported.
"In the conversation we expressed readiness to accelerate our communication and cooperation through more working groups in the fields of economy, culture, healthcare, energy, infrastructure and other areas of interest to Macedonian and Bulgarian citizens," Zaev wrote on Facebook about his conversation with Petkov.
The agreement for the formation of working groups was confirmed today personally by Petkov, but with more details about the implementation.
"The idea for the working groups will be structured as soon as possible. I hope that in early January we will have a clear plan of who the working groups will be, including what we talked about this morning, to include culture, infrastructure, economy, in addition to history. And to make a work plan in January. These working groups must achieve real results, "Petkov said.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Petkov gave six months to move things forward with Macedonia. However, Petkov did not fail to say that some hot topics between the two countries will remain on the table, primarily at the request of the coalition partner "There is such a people", which includes the new Bulgarian Foreign Minister Teodora Genchovska.
"For example, in Macedonian textbooks, Bulgaria should not be called fascist," Petkov said.
And as the new Bulgarian government prepares for a six-month breakthrough on the Macedonian issue, Bulgaria's veto over the country will be defended by old new Bulgarian President Rumen Radev at the European Council on Thursday. From Germany with the new Minister of Europe Anna Lirman came the old message from official Berlin - Macedonia and Albania to start negotiations with the Union as soon as possible.
"I am very pleased with the news from Bulgaria that they are now open for talks and to continue the dialogue with Macedonia," Lirman said.
Today, the President of Slovenia expressed hope that the conclusions on the enlargement of the Union will be adopted by the Council, although it is very likely that this will not happen again due to the opposition of Bulgaria. It is more certain that even if Bulgaria does not lift its veto this time, there will still be no development of the Macedonia-Albania package to start negotiations.
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