Foreign Minister: Serbia does not fulfill the Agreements on the Rights of Bulgarians in the Country

Politics | March 26, 2023, Sunday // 06:57
Bulgaria: Foreign Minister: Serbia does not fulfill the Agreements on the Rights of Bulgarians in the Country Minister Nikolay Milkov

"Respecting the rights of Bulgarians in the 'Western regions' (eastern Serbia) is an element of the criteria we observe when it comes to Serbia's negotiations for membership in the European Union." This was stated by Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Nikolay Milkov to Milena Milotinova in the program "Brussels 1" on "BG on Air".

Milkov stated that many agreements have been reached between Bulgaria and Serbia regarding the rights of Bulgarians in the Western outskirts, the latest of which were during the meetings between Presidents Rumen Radev and Aleksandar Vucic.

"The problem is that they are not being implemented in full, or not being implemented at all," said our foreign minister. To illustrate the problem, he gave an example of the textbooks in Bulgarian that Bulgarians in Tsaribrod and Bosilegrad should study.

The textbooks are ready for only a few classes, while the others are missing - currently they are still being discussed by the relevant commissions in the Serbian Ministry of Education. This actually prevents a normal educational process in Bulgarian. There is no way you can study Bulgarian textbooks in first and second grade, then switch to Serbian, etc. "This is how things are partially fulfilled and become meaningless," Milkov stated.

He pointed out that the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry is trying to help increase the welfare of Bulgarians in the Western outskirts by organizing business conferences and encouraging Bulgarian companies to invest in this region.

"Over 700 people travel from the Western outskirts every day to work in our country," said Milkov and added that by the end of the year, the lanes on the Bulgarian side of the Kalotina border crossing are expected to be expanded, which will facilitate crossing the border from their side.

Regarding the house of Dimitar Talev in Prilep and whether our country can buy it and make a museum of the writer there, the foreign minister answered:

"This is a matter related to our cultural and historical heritage. We, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are ready to assist the Ministry of Culture in this regard, because it is the official responsible for the Bulgarian cultural and historical heritage. However, many things need to be clarified. First, there must be a budget, and we also have no legal or other reason to make such an expense, it is done in another way. It remains to be seen if it is possible to buy the house, as it is owned by this lady who gave a press conference in Bulgaria, but there is also a co-owner living in Australia and we do not know if he would be willing to sell it. The purely financial conditions should also be seen, as this is an analytical question as far as the property market in Prilep is concerned. The most important thing is to decide how it can be used in the future, how there can be cultural activity there and whether it will not be hindered in any way by the Macedonian authorities, as we already have a negative experience, as can be seen from recent years".

Regarding the difficulty of obtaining Bulgarian citizenship, as well as the question of why key names, leaders of the Bulgarian community in the Republic of North Macedonia, accepted by European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi for asserting their Bulgarian self-awareness, such as Lyubcho Georgievski and Georgi Trendafilov, have problems obtaining Bulgarian citizenship, as well as why the Legal Advisory Council on Citizenship is not being established, Minister Milkov stated:

"The project for a decree on the creation of such an Advisory Council on Bulgarian citizenship has been submitted to public discussion. It was then brought to the attention of all institutions, ministries, who gave their comments. This Thursday we received the Department of Justice memos, which were the most voluminous yet. After considering these comments, we will have an opportunity next Wednesday to bring this to the SC so that this long awaited Advisory Council is adopted. I want to say, however, that its creation will not automatically solve all citizenship issues. This should be clear in advance so as not to entertain hopes that the issue is 100 percent resolved. The Council could solve border problems related to the current regulation. To judge a document whether it is valid or not, whether it should be reported or not. There should be some kind of judgment that would be political," said Milkov.

According to him, after the formation of the parliament, the legislation could be fully considered in relation to the current obstacles facing the Bulgarians from the RNM and the issue of Bulgarian citizenship could be completely cleared up.

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Tags: milkov, Serbia, Bulgarians, Serbian

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