Between 1912 and 1918, Bulgaria took part in three wars aimed at unifying the country. Two of them, the Second Balkan War (1913) and the First World War (1914-1918) led to national catastrophes. The ideal of unification was lost. The greater part of the geographical region of Macedonia, its Vardar and Aegean parts, populated by a compact Bulgarian population, fell under Serbian and Greek rule. Bulgarian schools and churches were shut down. Hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians were expelled and became refugees in the old borders of Bulgaria. 

In response, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO) began a struggle for an independent Macedonia where the human rights of Bulgarians would be protected. In 1923, the IMRO began celebrating Holy Spirit Monday as the Day of the Macedonian Bulgarians and the fallen Bulgarian heroes. Between the two world wars, Holy Spirit Day was celebrated with processions of many thousands of people, including both the elite of the Macedonian Bulgarians and the refugees driven from their homes. 

Newly elected Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski of the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party took the oath of office and in his speech did not fail to mention the stumbling block in bilateral relations, namely Bulgaria's firm position that North Macedonia must amend its constitution to recognise the Bulgarians as a state-building people before EU membership negotiations can begin. His words are clear: "Bulgaria's diktat will not be tolerated as long as I am prime minister.

"The new government in Skopje says it has several political pillars to focus on.  The fight against corruption is the first priority, followed by raising living standards and accelerating European integration efforts," Dr Spas Tashev points out, adding:

"By prioritising the fight against corruption, Mickoski is essentially acknowledging, in diplomatic terms, that significant progress on European integration is unlikely to be a hallmark of his administration. The good thing is that Skopje has softened its tone.

Tashev also pointed to the creation of a new ministry:

"A ministry for inter-community relations has been set up, with an ethnic Serb nominated as minister, which means that policy towards the Bulgarians in North Macedonia will be determined by the Serbs, which is not a good message. Skopje tried to talk about reciprocity in Bulgarian-Macedonian relations, and Serbia has been repeating the same idea for a year. The Serbian foreign minister said last year that since there are no Serbs in Bulgaria, there can be no Bulgarians in Serbia. There can be no such balance or reciprocity because it is a matter of historical reality, not wishes. In 1946 there were 60,000 Bulgarians in eastern Serbia. Today they have not disappeared. It is just that they are assimilated people who still use the Bulgarian language at home but do not dare to call themselves Bulgarians because of the hate speech that is common throughout the former Yugoslavia". 

The historian also commented on the future of the Joint Multidisciplinary Expert Commission on Historical and Educational Issues between the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Bulgaria, whose work is stagnating:

"We witnessed a similar deadlock when the government of Zoran Zaev in North Macedonia was replaced by that of Dimitar Kovacevski. Until his inauguration, the Macedonian representatives on the committee said they were waiting to see what policies would be pursued. In other words, they are waiting for the politicians to set the course and give it some content, but such an approach is not scientific. 

We have objective facts that cannot be subject to any kind of conjectural interpretation, let alone a political one, and this practice is likely to continue. Moreover, one of the members of the committee in Skopje knows the historical facts very well. We are talking about Dragi Georgiev. Although he knows the truth, as we can see, he is also putting up some resistance to reaching an understanding and an agreement".

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spas Tashev is still optimistic that Bulgaria's position on the historical issues is correct and that it will be difficult to deviate from it.