Macedonia Suffers from 'Bulgarian Citizenship Syndrome' - Paper

More and more Macedonians are desperately willing to become Bulgarian citizens, a Macedonian newspaper has noted.

In the first of what is set to become a series of articles dedicated to the issue, the Macedonian Utrinski Vesnik daily has pointed out that 42 372 Macedonians have already received Bulgarian citizenship, mostly because of the benefits that come with Bulgaria being a EU member state.

The former Yugoslav republic's total population is estimated to be around 2 million.

Macedonians have to declare they have a Bulgarian origin and Bulgarian national conscience upon applying for Bulgarian citizenship. However, many Macedonians are willing to declare all that for purely economic reasons, the article has hinted.

Receiving a Bulgarian citizenship is extremely easy for Macedonians and takes no more than a year, according to Utrinski Vesnik.

The paper's article is entitled "We Stand Up for Our Name, but We Are Easily Becoming Bulgarians," which refers to Macedonia's name dispute with Greece and the country's unwillingness to alter its name.