EU Not Bothered by Assault of Bulgarian Envoy in Skopje

The European Commission has come up with a neutral statement regarding the recent assault against Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Macedonia Ivan Petkov.

The issue has to be resolved at a bilateral level, according to Peter Stano, spokesman of EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele.

“If the case is criminal, we expect local authorities to investigate it, adhering to the rule of law,” Stano has stated, as cited by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency.

The European Commission expects Bulgaria and Macedonia to settle their relations “like European neighbors,” the spokesman has declared.

Brussels believes that if an issue exists between the two countries, they have to resolve it at a bilateral level.

On May 4, Petkov and a Bulgarian delegation were not admitted to Bulgarian revolutionary Gotse Delchev's grave in Skopje and were attacked by a group of nationalist Macedonian "hooligans," with no one being hurt.

The attack was strongly condemned by Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Presidednt Rosen Plevneliev, among others.

The authorities in Macedonia's capital Skopje have prevented Bulgarian diplomats and Macedonians with Bulgarian self-consciousness from honoring the grave of Gotse Delchev at several instances in the past on both Delchev's birthday - February 4, and the day of his death - May 4.

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