SDSM has a message today: ministers, MPs, mayors, directors and officials of VMRO-DPMNE hold Bulgarian passports. That is, in their words, "false patriotism" - publicly defending Macedonia from Bulgaria while privately holding Bulgarian citizenship. The statement came from Žernovski, and it is direct: "Whose interests does this government represent - Macedonian or Bulgarian?"

The context: SDSM demanded that the dual citizenship law apply not only to MPs but also to ministers and all appointed officials, effective immediately. Mickoski backed down. SDSM reads this directly: "They will not punish their own." Whether this is true - there is no list of names, no official confirmation. The accusation is political, not legal.

But political accusations have their own logic. If the opposition claims that government officials hold dual - Bulgarian-Macedonian - citizenship, and the government responds with neither removal nor denial, silence becomes acceptance. Then the question becomes more specific: is someone in the government actively blocking EU integration while keeping a Bulgarian passport in a drawer that opens those same doors?

This is not new to Macedonian politics. But on a day when EU rapporteur Vajc said there are no reforms - the story of Bulgarian passports held by Macedonian officials takes on a different tone.