In the same vein and with shots against Greece were yesterday’s statements by FYROM’ s President Gjorge Ivanov and Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva on the name dispute.

A day after signing the Friendship and Co-operation Agreement between Bulgaria and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), during the common celebration of the anniversary of Iliden (1903) Ivanov indirectly blamed Greece for extortion.

More specifically he said there are those who claim “Macedonian identity is stolen and that it was imposed on us or smuggled to us, or they claim that it is fake and through it, we hide the truth about who we really are.”

He concluded that it is possible to achieve an agreement with Greece, but he insisted that there should be the “proper climate.”

Meanwhile, Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva during an interview with Skopje media dropped hints against Greek side regarding the solution of the problem, while she also stated:

“The Bulgaria wishes a solution on the name dispute should not be linked with Northern Geographical notions” provocatively interfering into the bilateral dispute between Greece and FYROM

Ms Zaharieva, completely align with FYROM’s government, implied that the Greek side is not contributing to a solution, because as she said “the example set by Macedonian government is a motive and I call upon the prime minister Zaev’ s announcement for the solution to the problems with neighboring countries, because when there are difficulties with three out of four neighbors, this should make us reconsider who the problem lies with. Lies with the neighbour or with yourself as a politician? ”

With the above quite surprising statements Sofia does not seem to show a “European solidarity” spirit towards Athens.

E.L