VMRO-DPMNE has fired off a string of sharp criticisms at the SDSM leader, Venko Filipche, accusing him of staying silent over Bulgaria's recent diplomatic precedent. Sofia published a diplomatic note containing security information about the family of Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski - a move that demands an explanation in its own right.

The thrust of the criticism is that the opposition leader did not react to something the ruling party sees as a serious precedent in relations with the neighbour. VMRO says what is needed are guarantees, not new conditions from Sofia. Behind the party sparring lies a real problem - Bulgarian-Macedonian relations are strained again, and domestic politics is using that as a weapon.

Here it is worth separating the fact from the staging. The publishing of a diplomatic note with security data about a prime minister's family, if accurate, is genuinely an unusual and worrying step in diplomacy between two neighbouring countries. That is no trifle to be washed away with a party press release - it is a question that demands a clear answer from the institutions, not only from the parties.

But, as is typical of the domestic scene, the focus quickly shifts from the event itself to who failed to react loudly enough. Instead of asking why Sofia did this and what comes next, the debate boils down to an inter-party score-settling. And while the government and the opposition measure who stayed silent how long, the real question - what this means for relations with Bulgaria and for the road to the EU - goes unanswered.