According to a report from EURACTIV, Boyko Borissov, the leader of Bulgaria’s principal political party, GERB, publicly demanded the resignation of Alexander Nikoloski, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport of North Macedonia. This call for resignation was prompted by Nikoloski’s remarks concerning Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and the nation of Bulgaria, which have exacerbated the already contentious ‘missing flag’ controversy.
Borissov, whose government vetoed North Macedonia’s EU integration at the end of 2021, said that if Nikoloski did not resign, “neither the Bulgarian president nor the ministers nor the parties should meet and talk to them.”
The leader of the GERB party articulated his commitment to ensuring that the European People’s Party (EPP) is fully informed regarding the statements made by representatives of North Macedonia concerning Bulgaria.
Borissov’s address exacerbates the ongoing controversy surrounding the “missing flag” scandal, which has emerged as a significant political issue in Skopje over the past week.
On September 13th, President Rumen Radev of Bulgaria convened an informal meeting with his counterpart, Gordana Silyanovska-Davkova, in the capital city of Sofia.
Siljanovska was present in Sofia for a performance by the Macedonian Opera and received an invitation to engage in an informal meeting with Radev. Visual documentation from the meeting indicates that the Macedonian flag was absent from the Bulgarian presidential palace.
The official stance of Bulgaria is that diplomatic protocol prohibits the display of the national flag of a visiting country during informal meetings.
A notably severe reaction was expressed by Alexander Nikoloski, the Deputy Prime Minister of North Macedonia, who is regarded as a close associate of Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, the leader of the VMRO-DPMNE party.
“The minimum decency is to raise the flag of the country whose president is arriving. At least one should be normal to do that,” Nikoloski said in an interview with Alpha TV, reported by the state-run Bulgarian News Agency.
He further asserted that the Bulgarian president did not exemplify the qualities of a “civilized” host.
Recent polling data indicates that Borissov’s GERB party is poised to secure victory in the forthcoming early elections in Bulgaria, which are scheduled for October 27. Should this outcome materialize, the institutions in Skopje will be required to engage with Borissov in future negotiations about Bulgaria.
