Manasievski: Filipche acting as Bulgarian ambassador, arranging new 'betrayal' for Rumen Radev

VMRO‑DPMNE spokesman Valentin Manasievski accused Health Minister Venko Filipche on Saturday of acting like a Bulgarian ambassador and negotiating fresh concessions to Bulgaria that, Manasievski said, would serve the interests of Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and help Filipche gain power.

Manasievski's charge in his own words

Manasievski said the minister and official Sofia share the same approach to North Macedonia’s EU path. “Official Sofia and Venko Filipche are of the same position, and that is that to open negotiations with the EU, it is necessary to put the Bulgarians in the Constitution, pa se drugo. Filipche tells citizens clearly that opening the negotiations and chapters for the EU should not be through implementing the reforms from the Reform Agenda, nor that the process should be conducted according to the Copenhagen criteria, and as for every country, the process should apply to us too, but precisely Venko Filipche is against this,” Manasievski said.

He argued this stance, in combination with SDSM’s approach, will force further concessions at the expense of Macedonian identity. According to Manasievski, “precisely for Filipche and SDSM, it is necessary only to make a new concession or a new betrayal of the Macedonian identity, integrity and dignity, and only by pleasing the Bulgarians will we enter the EU.”

Manasievski also compared the alleged concessions to past political compromises. He warned that, following the example he attributes to former prime minister Zoran Zaev, current SDSM figures would abandon historical symbols and names “only to satisfy those who blackmail them, namely Bulgarian politicians.”

Manasievski concluded by attacking Filipche’s character: “Only a blackmailed and compromised person like Filipche can allow the capitulation of his own state,” he said.

The statement was delivered by VMRO‑DPMNE’s spokesman in public remarks that frame the debate over how North Macedonia should proceed with EU accession negotiations and the role of bilateral issues with Bulgaria in that process.

Photo: press material from the event