The 2019 Bulgarian Ultimatum in Comparison

The 2019 Bulgarian Ultimatum in Comparison (pp 22-34). 2021. In: Naum Trajanovski, Petar Todorov, Biljana Volchevska and Ljupcho S. Risteski, eds. Cultures and Politics of Remembrance: Southeast European and Balkan Perspectives. Skopje: forumZFD, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology and Institute of National History. ISBN 978-608-4956-04-4 In 2019, Bulgaria, as an EU member state, issued an ultimatum to North Macedonia in the form of a list of demands to be included as one of the preconditions for opening accession negotiations between North Macedonia and the European Union (EU). Most of these demands question the foundations of North Macedonia’s politics, history and culture by de facto pressing Skopje to consent to the Bulgarian thesis that neither the Macedonian language nor language exist. Because the ethnolinguistic type of nationalism predominates in central and eastern Europe for statehood creation, legitimation and maintenance, Sofia’s precondition appears to infringe North Macedonian sovereignty, and thus is in contravention of the Helsinki Accords. The situation, unusual in democratic Europe, is analyzed in comparative manner with the use of historical and contemporary examples.