Former Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin has argued that it is essential for Bulgaria that the conflict in Macedonia does not escalate into ethnic tensions.

“The opposition in Macedonia believes that if elections are prepared by the same government in the same way, then the results will be the same. It is essential to us that the tensions there do not escalate into ethnic tensions. We must live with the awareness that the fates of people are decided by themselves,” Vigenin said in a Wednesday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio.

He claimed that the wiser the approach of the countries in the region to such crises, the harder it would be to provoke external intervention.

Vigenin reminded in the interview that the Bulgarian Socialist Party backed the calls for the resignation of Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

A hearing of Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov and the Director of the Director of Bulgaria's National Intelligence Services, Dragomir Draganov, on the situation in Macedonia will take place on Wednesday.

MPs from the parliamentary foreign policy committee, of which Vigenin is a member, have presented questions in advance and the meeting will take place behind closed doors.