Bulgaria’s Vice President Iliana Iotova met with members of the Bulgarian community in North Macedonia at the Bulgarian Embsassy in Skopje. Vice President Iotova expressed gratitude for their courage to uphold their awarneness, traditions, language and history. Iliana Itotova paid a floral tribute to the bas relief of Vasil Levski on the Bulgarian Embassy in Skopje. Members of the Bulgarian diplomatic mission to the Republic of North Macedonia and the delegation accompanying Iliana Iotova, who was on a visit to Kosovo, were also present, the BTA reported.

“Our common goal is to reduce tensions and fight daily against this horrible hate speech towards Bulgaria, against all attempts to discriminate against Bulgarians in the country. No matter what actions North Macedonia takes, or what propaganda there is, Bulgaria will not back down from the agreements the two countries have. And if Bulgarians are not included in the country's constitution, there will not be an inch of progress in North Macedonia's negotiations for European membership. There won’t be an intergorvernmental conference, or a European Commission report to launch real negotiations”, Vice President Iotova said after the meeting with Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Skopje Angel Angelov, the BTA reported.