Mickoski expects a chat "by the water trough" from the Sofia meeting - and Bulgaria still hasn't officially replied

Macedonia's chief diplomat Timcho Mucunski and his Bulgarian counterpart Velislava Petrova-Chamova are supposed to meet on Thursday in Sofia, on the sidelines of a ministerial conference on Corridor 8. Supposed to - because as of yesterday there was still no official reply from Bulgaria to the request Skopje sent back on Friday.

The initiative followed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's visit to Skopje. Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said at the time that he would take her advice and request a meeting of the foreign ministers. Bulgaria's foreign ministry, for its part, said through the media that the forum "will provide an opportunity" for a bilateral meeting as part of the "regular dialogue between the two countries".

Mickoski makes no secret of expecting very little. "Given the behaviour of official Sofia, I don't expect confirmation, I don't expect anything, I expect some 'pull aside' dialogue - we call it 'by the water trough' - and that will be about it," the prime minister said. ("By the water trough" is a Macedonian expression for a quick, informal chat on the side.)

The opposition says that's exactly the problem. "Even before the meeting has happened, we're seeing a strategy to undermine it," said Andrej Zhernovski, accusing the prime minister of wanting to drag Macedonia backwards. From Sofia, meanwhile, Bulgarian President Yotova said there should be no ultimatums from the Macedonian side.

This is what diplomacy between Skopje and Sofia looks like: a diplomatic note from one side, an answer through the media from the other, and a prime minister who dismisses the meeting as a water-trough chat before the first handshake. If this conversation really is the first step towards unblocking EU integration, as Mickoski and von der Leyen described it, does anyone in either capital actually want that step to succeed?