North Macedonia, Bulgaria and the Ghosts of the Past

Quiet EU diplomacy finally makes progress

4 October 2022

Ognyan Georgiev

Marcin Król Fellow

It is a sign of the times, that what was news the other day is a well-forgotten story today.

It has been barely two months since the Bulgarian-North Macedonian spat was at the centre of EU-enlargement efforts and the French president was desperately trying to clear the hurdles before Skopje’s EU negotiations. Today, there is hardly a word today in Bulgaria’s media about what is going on on that front. 

Yet, this might be a good thing. For this is exactly the type of story that shows the dangers of putting too much spotlight on certain problems. Public attention renders some conflicts messier and more difficult because different groups start using them as a banner and a proxy for other wars. 

The North Macedonian argument with Bulgaria is a convoluted knot, which can only be untangled with care, patient work and less talk. Hopefully, that is what might happen; equally possible though, is that it gets tied down again. 

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Ognyan Georgiev

Marcin Król Fellow

Marcin Król Fellow at Visegrad Insight. A long-time reporter and editor in the leading Bulgarian business publication Capital, and currently head Kapital Insights - the English language service for Bulgarian politics, business and economy. He follows regional development, economy, cities and European funding. Georgiev is a Robert Bosch Stiftung and Fulbright alumni, and spent a year in MIT, researching urban migration. Interests include city planning, urban migration and remigration to Central and Eastern Europe, as well as regional and intraregional development.

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