Bulgaria says it would not accept “Northern Macedonia” to solve name issue between Skopje and Athens

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov says Sofia would object to any solution to the Greece-Macedonia name dispute that resulted in the former becoming known as Northern Macedonia.

Borisov said his country objected to the idea of neighbouring Macedonia being renamed with a geographical qualifier, such as “Northern”, as it might then encourage Macedonian territorial claims against Bulgaria.

“I said that we would not accept this, since the next day they would say Blagoevgrad [in Bulgaria] is Macedonian,” Borisov said, referring to the town in southwestern Bulgaria close to the Macedonian border.