North Macedonia‘s President Stevo Pendarovski will send the General Secretary of the President’s Cabinet, Mile Boshnjakovski, to attend the opening of the so-called Macedonian Cultural Club "Nikola Vaptsarov" in Blagoevgrad tomorrow. It turned out that Pendarovski had also received an invitation, but due to previously scheduled commitments he will not attend the event.

Bulgaria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already said that it has no practice to comment on initiatives of a private nature.  “The event is supported by the two main opposition parties in Skopje. It is no secret that they hold anti-European convictions and pursue a policy against the European integration of North Macedonia. Their actions should be seen in the broader context of the interest of third countries which is targeted against the EU and its enlargement,” Deputy Foreign Minister Kostadin Kodzhabashev said earlier.

Maya and Nikola Vaptsarov, nephews of poet Nikola Vaptsarov, whom the club has been named after, have been invited to its opening. They said, for the BNR, that Nikola Vaptsarov has never identified as Macedonian, and that he has nothing to do with what is today North Macedonia. The heirs of Nikola Vaptsarov do not agree that the Macedonian club in Blagoevgrad should bear his name.

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