site.btaPM Petkov: We Should Not Allow Provocations to Set the Agenda of Sofia-Skopje Relations

Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said it was essential that Sofia and Skopje should continue their constructive dialogue and not yield to provocation by certain groups which are trying to step up tension. He talked to Bulgarian media after meeting with North Macedonia's Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski in Rome on Monday.

Petkov reiterated the need for the President to convene a meeting of the Consultative Council on National Security, which should discuss everything the two governments have done so far.

"This is the format when we need a national consensus. The coalition council is a very important format and I will call a meeting of the government coalition, but we need a broader consensus, that is why the opposition should also be informed. This is too important a matter to be restricted to a single group of parties," Petkov said.

"It is only through constructive dialogue that we can continue in the direction of good-neighbourliness, which both governments want," the Bulgarian Prime Minister said. He confirmed that the two government leaders had not committed to any deadlines and that their only commitment is to keep up the good dialogue and constructive efforts.

Foreign Ministers Teodora Genchovska of Bulgaria and Bujar Osmani of North Macedonia attended the meeting.

The two prime ministers led delegations to Rome on the occasion of May 24, the Day of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, of the Bulgarian Alphabet, Education and Culture and of Slavic Literature. The delegations had separate audiences with Pope Francis earlier in the day.