Bulgaria has demanded that North Macedonia sign an annex or protocol guaranteeing that Skopje will implement the neighbourhood treaty signed between the two states in 2017, in which the issues concerning the Macedonian language, identity and history must be included, far-right Deputy Prime Minister Krassimir Karakachanov said in an interview with Nova TV on November 11.

Sofia is blocking the start of EU negotiations with North Macedonia, as it wants three conditions to be included in the negotiation framework for North Macedonia: good neighbourly relations; the EU to use only the official name Republic of North Macedonia and not the short name North Macedonia; and, the language formula to be the "official language" of the candidate country, not the "Macedonian language".

According to Karakachanov, Bulgaria will not make compromise on its demands.

“We clearly declared yesterday [at the Western Balkans summit in Sofia] that Bulgaria continues supporting the position that the only normal perspective for the Western Balkans and North Macedonia is EU membership, but this is not going to happen as North Macedonia is imagining,” Karakachanov said.

He added that Bulgaria will not bow to pressure from any other EU member state.

The decision on whether North Macedonia will be allowed to open negotiations will be made by EU foreign ministers on November 17, after it has to be prepared by EU ambassadors. Bulgaria can block the process since decisions are made by consensus. Therefore, Germany is urging the two countries to resolve such disputes bilaterally and not to include them in the negotiating framework.