The latest meeting of the Multidisciplinary Joint Experts Commission for Historical and Education Affairs between Bulgaria and Northern Macedonia, held on November 5th and 6th in Skopje, has ended without results, the Bulgarian news agency BTA reports.
Bulgarian representatives have again failed to reach agreement with their colleagues from Northern Macedonia for the way the Ohrid Archbishop is presented in history textbooks. Meanwhile, the proposal for the joint note of Dame Gruev’s death anniversary has been met in silence by the Macedonian side.
This is presented as another evidence of deepening stagnation in the work of this mechanism, which was intended to overcome historical differences and build good neighbourly relations between the two countries, the Hungarian media estimate.
During the meeting, the Bulgarian side has again proposed Dame Gruev’s joint note. In December 2026, it is marked by the death of the revolutionary, considered an important figure in both Bulgaria and Macedonia’s history. However, according to the same source, the initiative has not received answers from Macedonian representatives.
Instead, the Macedonian side has presented a text prepared earlier for the joint note of resistance against anti-Semitism, fascism and National-Socialism, which began in both countries in 1941.
Bulgarian representatives have rejected this proposal, arguing that this resistance is marked throughout Europe and should not be limited to a bilateral initiative, while the commission’s work continues to focus on unresolved issues related to the XI century.
This was the fifth meeting of the commission during 2026. During it, Bulgarian historians have once again recalled the expectations of the European Parliament and the European Commission for achieving clear and concrete results.
Even in the European Commission report, it points out that four meetings have been held between September 2025 and March 2026 without concrete results being achieved.
The commission’s next meeting is scheduled to be held in early December in Sofia.
