The visit of Kiril Petkov with positive assessments in Sofia and Skopje

 

 A day after their first meeting, the Bulgarian Prime Minister said that with the first step Bulgaria has achieved great success. Petkov is satisfied with the agreement reached on cooperation in several areas with Macedonia and emphasizes that one of their main goals is the note that the Macedonian Foreign Ministry sent to the UN has been fulfilled, commented the Skopje TV channel "Channel 5".

On the one hand, we shook hands when we went there first, and on the other hand, they gave us a note that we hoped to receive two years ago. This note is much more important than just the short and long name. This note shows that  Macedonia there are no territorial claims to Bulgaria. It should be understood here that yesterday we achieved great success, "said Kiril Petkov - Prime Minister of Bulgaria.

Macedonian Prime Minister Kovachevski, for his part, said the fact that Bulgaria had agreed to use the country's short name was the first major step in the new chapter, which the two prime ministers promised to citizens of both countries.

"My colleague Petkov and I promised ourselves that we would use the new energy and improve the relations between the two countries through a new approach based on mutual respect. He and I have the same common goal - to create conditions for a better future for the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Bulgaria, "said Dimitar Kovachevski.

 The focus should be on economic cooperation, trade, infrastructure, and history should be kept in the background - this strategy has met with positive reactions from all politicians. But will the rapprochement of the two countries in this way be enough to unblock the path of the Republic of Macedonia for European integration, will the other requirements of the Bulgarian 5 + 1 package still not be circumvented? Political analyst Petar Arsovski says time will tell whether individual scoring is a good tactic.

 "In principle, we have to wait to see if this situation will lead to some new impetus to improve relations and whether a second step will follow. Both in Macedonia and in Bulgaria there is a saying that a swallow does not make a spring. Let's see if this swallow is one of many, or will remain the only one, "said Petar Arovski, a political analyst in Skopje.

One of the Bulgarian demands is the recognition of the Bulgarian minority in Macedonia. For President Pendarovski, this is interference in the country's internal affairs, and he assures that he will not allow unworthy decisions to be made.

 "No, there is no chance of that happening. Such a decision cannot be taken. First I will go to a press conference and say "people, I do not accept this". And I do not think that any agreement should be hidden from the Macedonian or Bulgarian public. This thing is not happening by force, we must tell the citizens - we are talking about it and it does not undermine our national positions, said Stevo Pendarovski - President of Macedonia.

 Unlike the president, according to DUI leader Ali Ahmeti, there is nothing controversial about the inclusion of the Bulgarian minority in the Macedonian constitution.

The chairman of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristian Mickoski, met with Petkov, and the party said he had told the Bulgarian prime minister his already known views.