Commentary recaps background to Bulgaria's objection to Macedonia's EU entry.

Text of report by Macedonian newspaper Utrinski Vesnik on 15 November

[Commentary by Slobodanka Jovanovska: "How Was the Bulgarian Veto Cemented?"]

Could the Bulgarian veto on Macedonia's EU entry have been avoided or was this outcome inevitable, given the decades of animosity between these two states? No one is surprised by Sofia's recent harsh calls aimed at showing its teeth to Macedonia because the Bulgarian veto virtually started to be cemented only one year after this state joined the EU back in 2007.

An expected announcement was the promotion of the Bulgarian almanac on Macedonia, not in Sofia, but in Brussels, although the EU capital showed no interest whatsoever in this event.

The first to open the front against our state in 2008 was Evgeniy Kirilov [Bulgarian European Parliament member], who was the only one to uphold the Greek position during a debate on the European Parliament's [EP] report on Macedonia. He then claimed out loud that the Macedonian nation and language were artificial, so logically our history, too, was such.

"I would like to assure you that we are one of Macedonia's best friends. Please trust us on this," Prime Minister Boyko Borisov claimed in the middle of Brussels in 2009, thus rejecting the Macedonian claims that he was deliberately undermining mutual ties by taking advantage of the vessel accident [on Lake Ohrid when Bulgarian tourists were drowned].

"I have excellent relations with your prime minister," he assured us, but the only …