"It is high time for the institutions in the Republic of North Macedonia started effectively countering violence and verbal expressions of hatred against Bulgarians." This is what President Rumen Radev said in a telephone conversation with the European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy, Olivér Várhelyi, the press center of the Bulgarian head of state reported.

President Radev pointed out that the frequent cases of aggression against Bulgarians required institutional response, while attempts to downplay them were not in the interest of bilateral relations and the European perspective of North Macedonia.

Rumen Radev called on the EU to guarantee the observance of the rights and security of the Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia with the same energy that it had when it insisted on accelerating the country's European integration.