The new Bulgarian foreign minister, Veliska Petrova, in her first major statement focused on Macedonia, has sent a message that sounds new in form but is identical in substance. Sofia will not back down from the demand for constitutional changes, she told BNT. For her this is not a bilateral dispute - it is a "relationship between a candidate country and the European Union".

Petrova, who has just taken over the portfolio, characterised the Bulgarian position as "unequivocally positive", then added that Skopje often fails to show "political maturity". That is rhetoric that is carefully calibrated at the diplomatic level, but in plain language means something simple: the problem is not us, the problem is you.

The French proposal from 2022, which she described as the "European position", remains on the table as a Bulgarian red line. "The enlargement window is open", she said, and Macedonia should use it by "fulfilling the obligations" - not by "escalating conflicts". In other words: we know what we are asking for, deliver it.

The context matters. Prime Minister Mickoski recently raised the question of protections for the rights of Macedonians in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian side rejected the topic as a legitimate one. Now Petrova carries on along the same approach. Reciprocity, which on paper looks simple (you respect ours, we respect yours), in practice gets refused from Sofia because it would look like recognising something Bulgarian political consensus refuses to recognise - the existence of a Macedonian minority.

For Balkan readers, the difference between "a new minister" and "a new rhetoric" in this case is zero. The minister changes, the policy stays. The question Skopje needs to ask out loud is not "how do we respond to Petrova", but "do we have a long-term strategy for the Bulgarian block, or do we keep reacting?" Bulgaria has a strategy. Macedonia, year after year, only has situations.