EditYet another assault on a Bulgarian in North Macedonia heightens tensions
Skopje faces renewed criticism from Sofia amid stalled constitutional changes and a critical European Commission report
The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has sharply condemned a new assault on a Bulgarian citizen in North Macedonia, warning that such incidents reflect a “deeply troubling atmosphere fuelled by anti-Bulgarian rhetoric”. The latest attack targeted the 80-year-old journalist and publicist Vladimir Perev, a prominent representative of the Bulgarian community in the country.
Perev, 80, was hit several times in the face and his glasses were broken. He reported the incident to the police, and the incident was registered by law enforcement.
Later that day, Perev shared details of the attack on the Tribuna website:
“A big, strong man of about 40 turned to me and said, ‘You Bulgarians, go to Bulgaria. I don’t want to hear the word Macedonian from your disgusting Bulgarian mouth. If I ever hear you speak of a Macedonian or of yourself as a Macedonian, I will kill you. You will hang like all fascists”.
“This is a grand-Serbia policy, as it is spread in Macedonia. This is a policy of Greater Serbian nationalism, not to say fascism, aimed solely at Bulgarians in Macedonia. Serbs are far more tolerant of Turks and Vlachs, even Albanians, because only Bulgarians have not accepted that this is an ancient Serbian land,” Perev told BGNES.
“The fight for the rights of Bulgarians in Macedonia is at its beginning,” he concluded.
The assault on Vladimir Perev now risks becoming yet another entry in a long list of incidents that overshadow Skopje’s EU ambitions. For Sofia, each attack reinforces the same message: rights, safety, and recognition of Macedonian Bulgarians are non-negotiable.
In a statement sent to EUalive’s partner BGNES, the ministry said that Sofia and the Bulgarian embassy in Skopje remain in constant contact with Perev, who was assaulted in a shop in the capital. According to the authorities, he was struck repeatedly in the face, and his glasses were broken. Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev spoke to him personally, stressing that Bulgaria “will continue to stand by him in this difficult moment”.
The ministry warned that this is yet another case of hate-motivated violence against a Bulgarian in North Macedonia – a trend it links directly to the current political climate. It added that Skopje must ensure a swift and effective investigation, noting that the way local authorities respond will serve as a test of their approach to hate crimes. The statement also reiterated that the country’s European path requires “full and good-faith implementation” of the European compromise of 2022, including guarantees for the rights of Macedonian Bulgarians.
This latest episode only deepens the already strained relations between the two neighbours. In early 2023 Hristiyan Pendikov, secretary of the Bulgarian cultural club “Tsar Boris III” in Ohrid, was severely beaten and later evacuated to Bulgaria for treatment. Sofia reacted strongly at the time, summoning the Macedonian ambassador and insisting that the assault contradicted Skopje’s stated ambition to join the European Union.
Further strain followed the one-year suspended sentence handed down in June 2024 to Lyupcho Georgievski, chairman of the closed cultural club “Ivan Mihailov” in Bitola and a Bulgarian citizen. He was convicted on charges of inciting hatred based on online publications, though he insists the verdict is politically driven and targets “Bulgarian self-identification in Macedonia”. Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry described the ruling as unacceptable and recalled that cultural clubs associated with Bulgarian identity were shut down through retroactive legislation.
North Macedonia’s sentence against Bulgarian activist sparks backlash in Sofia
These incidents have reinforced Sofia’s view that Skopje systematically fails to respond adequately to violence, discrimination, and intimidation against Macedonian Bulgarians. “Months of warnings have yielded no meaningful results”, the ministry said, adding that the lack of action is incompatible with EU membership aspirations.
Bulgarian authorities have repeatedly raised the issue, arguing that North Macedonia’s public commitments to democratic reforms “do not reflect the reality in which Macedonian Bulgarians live”.
Beyond the bilateral tensions, the matter also intersects with North Macedonia’s stalled EU accession process. To advance towards opening negotiation clusters, the country must adopt constitutional changes that explicitly include Bulgarians among the communities recognised in the Constitution – a step government leaders in Skopje have so far refused to take.
The latest European Commission Enlargement Report of the reiterates this requirement. It urges North Macedonia to adopt the necessary amendments with a view to including in the Constitution citizens who live within the borders of the state and who are part of other people, such as Bulgarians. This condition, enshrined in the EU Council Conclusions of July 2022, remains essential for the next phase of talks.
The report acknowledges progress on rule-of-law roadmaps, public administration reforms, and minority-rights action plans. However, it warns that decisive and immediate action is still needed to unlock the accession process. Until the constitutional changes are adopted, the country cannot proceed to open its first negotiation cluster.
EU urges North Macedonia to deliver on constitutional changes and step up rule of law reforms
Caption: Vladimir Perev/BGNES
Updated: November 25, 2025 - 08:24
