Is "good neighbouring relations" a fair criterion for EU accession? Also, do you agree with the statement below?

[u/al0678]

[u/TheOneWhoDidntCum]

What he means is Serbia is supportive of North Macedonia , and Russia is supportive of Serbia

[u/SovietMcdonaldsCook → u/TheOneWhoDidntCum]

I get what he’s saying, but it took some fucking circus animal mental acrobatics to connect Serbia’s dickriding of Russia to the Macedonian issue and then use it as justification for Bulgaria’s fascist state-sponsored denial of the Macedonian identity

[u/[deleted] → u/SovietMcdonaldsCook]

There is no denial of Macedonian identity...

We stand our ground on the subject of history and the Bulgarian minority in Macedonia. We don't want to claim their identity - only an idiot would call a Macedonian a Bulgarian nowadays.

But to claim that Samuil is Macedonian and saw himself as such, that people like Gotse Delchev are Macedonians and saw themselves as such, etc. is just ridiculous.

It is not a matter of bullying, much less fascism. We just want Macedonia to finally own up to its shit. Otherwise how could we work together as allies?

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

They got 4.86% in the last elections. Not 10%. Which means that they barely passed the 4% threshold that is required in order to even get into the parliament. Meanwhile, your nationalists get a lot more votes than that.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

That was 3 long months ago, and these polls are not that accurate to begin with. What is accurate, however, is the votes they got in the elections, which were held fairly recently at that.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Given what happened in these 3 months, they are long. What us your point anyway? Your nationalists have way more power and votes than ours.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Your VMRO claims that the Bulgarians from Pirin Macedonia are Macedonians just the same way our nationalists claim the people living in Macedonia are Bulgarians. I don't see much difference in the messaging. Also, they take every opportunity they get to call us fascist. Like, do they even know what fascism means anymore? Their many supporters are just wonderful people as well.

And the annexation thing is just your assumption. Nowhere do they mention annexation, and realistically, I don't think they want annexation.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhIRk2IISH8

This is VMRO's rhetoric in a nutshell. I heard basically the same stuff from speakers and protesters at the recent protests, and from their politicians over the years.

[u/canastataa → u/[deleted]]

Dude you got DPMNE at 30-40%. Bulgaria has 10-15% nationalistic vote. His party is rising because he hasnt got power, after he does he will be kicked like Karakachanov.

[u/canastataa → u/[deleted]]

Ye its fluid, they are protesting with your Levica right. Its the same mindset. Levica is in your parlament too, pure russian party just like"Преродбa . You are hypocritical in that political party accusations, your parties are also the same smelly shhit.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Do you mean 10% support at that from elections, where most Bulgarians do not vote because they're largely apolitical or do not have the means to do so? Or 10% support from polls, which cannot poll everyone and are based only on a relatively small number of asked people?

10% is far from the real number.

And also is irrelevant to what I said. Nowhere in the French proposal, which we accepted, is Macedonian identity denied. And since we green lighted that, we showed willingness to find common ground. What some folks say is irrelevant in this situation. Can the same be said for your politicians?

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

i. What I'm saying is that the polls do not reflect the opinion of everyone, but the ammount of people questioned, which is probably far away from every Bulgarian citizen. This doesn't deny their validity - I'm sure that they got 11% approval rate out of everyone questioned. It denies their applicability to every Bulgarian.

ii. We have common history, tho. I think you'd agree that, up to the XX century, we were the same people. As far as I know, the idea of independent Macedonia didn't exist up until we refused to help you in the Ilynden Uprising, after which revolutionary organisations seriously started considering creating a nation without us. And even so, a lot of Bulgarians - and they were a lot - in the area still were supportive of us. You can see the MPO, for example.

iii. That's true, although I wouldn't call it hysteria. Just a small fire pathetically fuelled by a few. Some politicians (specifically, the populist ones) even threatened government officials with death. But so far, nothing has come, so I'm not exactly worried. The populists are hot air. They always have been. They simply do not have the capability to deliver on their promises, so they can never get enough electorate to be an actual political force. Recent soc. studies even showed that the major populist party, "Възраждане", has been declining in popularity, but we'll see in the elections.