Bulgaria lashes out at EU hopeful Macedonia

(SOFIA) - Bulgaria's president took a swipe at EU hopeful Macedonia on Wednesday, criticising what he called a lack of "good neighbourliness" and rising nationalistic rhetoric.

Speaking ahead of the release later this month of a progress report on Macedonia's readiness to join the 27-nation bloc, Rosen Plevneliev said that Sofia's support for such a bid was "not unconditional."

The upcoming European Commission report "does not reflect in an adequate manner Macedonia's role in regional cooperation," Plevneliev told foreign journalists.

He added that Sofia "does not agree with the conclusion of the Commission that the relations between Bulgaria and Macedonia constitute 'an example of good neighbourliness and are perfect'."

Plevneliev said he regretted Macedonia's "ever more nationalistic rhetoric, a discriminatory attitude towards the citizens who define themselves as Bulgarian and obstacles to Bulgarian businessmen."

Bulgaria, which joined the EU in 2007, was the first to recognise the Republic of Macedonia under its constitutional name when it broke from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.

Greece has blocked Macedonia's attempts to join NATO and the EU, saying that its use of the name Macedonia could imply a territorial claim to the northern Greek province of the same name.

Sofia and Skopje have been at loggerheads over how they interpret whole periods of their history since the Middle Ages, with both claiming to be the homeland of the same historical figures.

Bulgarian historians meanwhile insist that the Macedonians have Bulgarian roots and that their language is a Bulgarian dialect, which Skopje denies.

Plevneliev proposed on Wednesday organising joint celebrations of common historical anniversaries, while urging Macedonia to respect a good neighbourliness declaration signed in 1999 and go even further by signing a new accord.