In Belgrade: It smells like a Bulgarian veto for Serbia

These days the Belgrade Blic under the title "Bulgarian subversion against Serbia" writes about the speech of the Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, who stated that "Bulgaria may reconsider its support for Serbia on the way to the EU". These types of statements and what they mean are known here in Macedonia! The smell of the veto is already felt. In the shell of "support review" a bitter threat is packaged with a message: "We are not satisfied with how you respect the minority rights of the Bulgarians", writes Hristo Ivanovski on the pages of the North Macedonian edition "New Macedonia". The material was transmitted without editorial intervention by "Focus“.

In Serbia, this statement was received with suspicion and even as a kind of shock in Belgrade. Why such a turn in the politics of Sofia?

"The main criterion by which we will judge and support the progress of the countries of the Western Balkans is precisely the position of our compatriots in each country, the conditions for economic and social development and above all their ability to protect their national identity, language, culture and historical memory", explains Bulgarian President Rumen Radev.

If we look at the two vetoes from Greece and Bulgaria, both refer to the position of minorities – Bulgarian in Macedonia and Greek in Albania. And so, a third veto is coming, again for the position of the Bulgarian minority, this time in Serbia. If someone now asks her questions about the situation of the Macedonian national minority in Bulgaria and Greece or the Albanian minority in Greece, it will not meet with a positive answer in the European Union. This is a taboo subject. It's just that, as human rights and minority experts have pointed out, minority issues are not a hot topic in the EU. Therefore, its members can play "with the whip or the carrot"; on the periphery of the Union and to demand something that the members themselves do not want to allow.

"Europe can also be called the continent of minorities, because about 35-40 million live as minorities in the countries of Europe. Although it is a huge number, minority rights are not treated as a dominant topic in the EU”, says an expert who is well aware of the events in Strasbourg, the center of human rights in Europe.

Greece and Bulgaria with preferential status in the Balkans

If this is so, then the question arises, how did Greece and Bulgaria get a kind of preferential status in the Balkans? Are they really playing a skillful, even perfidious game on the part of Brussels, having to be the "extended hand" of the Union in blocking the enlargement process. Good neighborly relations are a story without an end, but also a good alibi for candidate countries to be continuously blocked in the integration process. Analysts clearly separate the integration processes in NATO and in the EU. If Serbia firmly stands on the position that it does not want to be in NATO, it is clear for Macedonia that it came out more as a territorial booty than as a real helping hand of the military alliance. Because it is clear under what conditions and with what maneuvers Macedonia entered NATO. Even before becoming a member, Macedonia gave a lot to NATO and regional security.

One of our interlocutors, Strasho Angelovski, leader of the MAAK, is confident that Bulgaria and Greece are the leading players not only of the EU, but also of the great powers, especially Great Britain. According to him, we are witnessing dramatic geopolitical changes.

"I do not exclude the world entering into a revision of old agreements. This was also announced by US President Joe Biden. I think there will be a revision of the Treaty of Westphalia (with which peace was achieved in Central Europe), as well as other old agreements”, Angelovski points out.

A substantial mobilization to preserve national interests follows

It is more than obvious that the new authorities have long ago, even as an opposition, analyzed very deeply the tectonic movements of geopolitics, which dynamically affect our region as well. They announced that "we will no longer walk barefoot on thorns when it comes to the Good Neighbor Treaty and Bulgaria's ultimate demands.

The topic of changing the Constitution and the entry of Bulgarians will most likely be relevant when Macedonia and the EU open the first chapter, but it is not excluded that all this is on the condition that the process ends when Macedonia becomes a member of the Union. Should this be seen as a mobilization to preserve national interests? Of course, yes, but we can also expect more radical steps from our side, primarily due to the events in the region.

According to our interlocutors, analyzes will now follow whether Washington read very seriously the first negative reactions to the Prespa Treaty by the new government in Macedonia? The Biden administration has created its own specific tool for anyone attacking these agreements – blacklists them and sanctions follow. But in a period in which similar moves are expected by the Serbian and Albanian-Kosovo leaders, it would be normal for Macedonia to mobilize and ask itself - what have we achieved and what have we lost with the Prespa Agreement and the Treaty with Bulgaria, which are not a guarantee for the territorial integrity of Macedonia, nor guarantee membership in the EU.

Belgrade perceived a dangerous threat from Sofia to its territorial integrity and reacted immediately

An event took place this weekend that will not go unnoticed in the region, but also in the EU, as well as in some centers of power. Namely the All-Serbian Council held on Saturday in Belgrade. "One nation, one council – Serbia and Serbia together“ is the message sent from the Serbian capital, which should not be considered only as an internal matter.

"Today is an important day for many reasons. We Serbs are often not aware of historical and significant events. We remember it only after a few decades. And it is an important day for many reasons. An agreement was reached today on Serbian unity, which will not last one day, two or three months, but forever”, Vucic in the presence of the President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik and the high representatives of Serbia and Serbia.

Was Radev's statement that Serbia would receive a Bulgarian veto precisely because of the All-Serbian Assembly? It can be analyzed from this point of view, but the fact is that it was the EU that stuck the Balkans and their European perspective. Serbia even opened a few chapters, but there is no real progress. Macedonia and Albania are even further behind and the reason can be seen precisely in the relations between Brussels, Sofia and Athens.

Analysts in Belgrade suspect that behind the minority rights in Sofia's threat they actually see other appetites of Bulgaria. Who would they be? For example, Bulgaria celebrates March 3rd as its national holiday, and it is the San Stefano Agreement reached between Imperial Russia and the Ottoman Empire near Istanbul, with which Bulgaria received huge territories on paper, most of which were awarded by Macedonia. Did Belgrade also read a dangerous threat to its territorial integrity?

We can rightly ask ourselves why Europe did not pressure Bulgaria to cancel March 3 as its national holiday, especially since Russia is behind it, declared the biggest enemy of European sovereignty, security, values, etc.? Especially since on this date Bulgaria publicly declares that it has territorial claims.

Reminder of the San Stefano Peace Treaty

It is a treaty between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire concluded at the end of the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878). It was signed on March 3, 1878 in San Stefano (Yesilköy), a village west of Istanbul by Nikolai Ignatiev and Alexander Nelidov for the Russian Empire and Foreign Minister Safet Pasha and Ambassador to Germany Sadullah Bey on behalf of the Ottoman Empire. The agreement effectively creates San Stefano Bulgaria as an independent state. The treaty created an autonomous region within the Ottoman Empire with broad powers, a Christian administration and the right to its own army. This territory includes the area between the Danube and Stara planina, the area of Sofia, Pirot and Vrania in the Morava valley, Northern Thrace, parts of Eastern Thrace and almost all of Macedonia (Article 6 of the treaty).