Negotiations for resolving the name dispute between Macedonia and Greece should not be at the expense of Bulgaria, stated former Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov today on BTV “This Morning” program.
According to Parvanov, the fact that the name-dispute between Greece and Macedonia has been under discussion is positive, but he went further and said that he is worried because “talks are beginning to go in the direction of several solutions, some of which are contrary to the Bulgarian interest”.
“Yes, above all, we recognize Macedonia as the constitutional name, but consider proposals such as Upper Macedonia or Northern Macedonia, are solutions that are in favor of Greece, but at the expense of Bulgarian interest”, Parvanov said.
The former Bulgarian President (2002 to 2012) thinks that it is not up to Sofia and its diplomacy how the negotiations will end, and further says, that at some point, it should be in some sort of alignment with Bulgaria.
“The name Northern or Upper Macedonia includes the region of Pirin, the Aegean region does not concern us and we do not comment on it, and at the same time the potential claims towards Bulgaria are up in the ait. At least, it must be discussed between the governments of both countries”, Parvanov said.
According to him, the unblocking of negotiations between Athens and Skopje is due to pressure from the West, most likely across the ocean, alluding to the United States.
