Macedonia's former Foreign Minister Slobodan Casule. File photo
Bulgaria is trying to use its right to veto within the EU as a means for blackmail, according to Macedonia's former Foreign Minister Slobodan Casule.
Casule's statement is provoked by Bulgarian Vice President Margarita Popova, who recently declared that Serbia may not join the EU unless it resolves the issue with its Bulgarian minority.
Popova made that statement in the Serbian town of Bosilegrad, which is populated by ethnic Bulgarians, not onlike other border regions in Eastern Serbia, which Bulgaria was forced to cede under the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine after World War I.
Bulgaria is now "the new Greece of the EU," Casule has claimed, as cited by the Macedonian Dnevnik daily.
Macedonia continues to have no date for starting the EU talks as the Council of the European Union has repeatedly put off grating the country a date, largely because of its name dispute with Greece.
As Dnevnik has pointed out, Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry has said that the country has not changed its stance on Serbia's EU accession bid and continues to support it.
However, Casule believes that Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov should officially distinguish himself from Margarita Popova's words.
Cesule reckons that Bulgarian politicians "have threatened Macedonia, too."