The road to Brussels runs through Sofia again - and through Macedonian identity. The opposition VMRO-DPMNE has accused Minister Venko Filipče and SDSM of being ready for new "national concessions" for EU membership, on the model of former Prime Minister Zaev. On the other side, Bulgaria has said from Brussels that without constitutional changes there's no progress.

The opposition claims Filipče is ready to "redefine Macedonian history" to secure the prime minister's chair, and recalls the Bulgarian positions: that the Macedonian language was a Bulgarian dialect, that Macedonians and Bulgarians are one people in two states, and that the Macedonian revolutionaries were Bulgarians. "Citizens have rejected this at several elections and will not accept another Zaev," the statement says.

The Bulgarian side, for its part, reframes its position as a matter between the EU and a candidate country, not a bilateral dispute. The minister stated that "since 2022 this is not a bilateral issue." She warned that Albania and Montenegro are advancing while Macedonia risks falling behind: "This enlargement window may open in the coming years, and if they don't seize the chance, they really could lose out."

Macedonian Minister Timčo Mucunski countered that the process must be "freed from bilateral conditioning." But the 2022 framework remains firm: amending the preamble of the Constitution to include Bulgarians, ratifying the friendship treaty, fighting hate speech, opening the communist archives.

Behind all the diplomatic terminology stands one question Macedonians have carried for decades: how much of your own identity is a seat at the table in Brussels worth? That isn't a question for the politicians - it's a question citizens have already answered several times at the polls. The question is whether anyone is listening.