Deputy Foreign Minister Zoran Dimitrovski reopened on TV21 a topic that everyone in Skopje is tired of but no one stops returning to: Bulgaria and the Constitution. "Bulgarians will become part of the Constitution - but only when we see an outstretched hand on the rights of Macedonians in Bulgaria and guarantees on identity questions."

The sentence carries an entire strategy. For two years now Skopje has been building a new diplomatic line: identity questions cannot be a condition for EU integration. Dimitrovski says this openly. And he links it: we are ready for constitutional changes, but not on Sofia's terms.

One concrete question: the registration of Macedonian associations in Bulgaria. This is a practical matter that requires neither a constitution nor an agreement on history. Just good will from the Bulgarian side. Sofia has so far refused this systematically. "Macedonian associations" in Bulgaria are persistently denied with legal claims that a "Macedonian minority" doesn't exist.

Dimitrovski added something important. That questions of history and identity are "complex and require a long timeframe". Joint commissions can work "for decades". With this our diplomacy is acknowledging reality: in this mandate, and in the next, and perhaps in a third, the question of Goce Delčev or of words in textbooks will not be resolved.

The Bulgarian side uses its right of veto as an instrument. Not only at the level of EU accession. Dimitrovski indicated that "Sofia is ready to use it more broadly - even outside the formal process". That's a message for Brussels, not only for Skopje. Bulgaria is acquiring a special status in European politics - a state that can block whenever it likes.

The Balkans watch this with mixed feelings. On one side - sympathy for Skopje, because every state in the region has its own "veto neighbour". On the other - suspicion that rhetoric, without a concrete strategy, just postpones the solutions. When one state spends decades staring at the same wall, the question is whether the wall is too high or whether we're too short.