After praising the two countries' common history a fortnight ago, North Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev accused on Wednesday Bulgaria of imposing unacceptable and insulting conditions to his country's road to the European Union, a day after Brussels failed to set the starting date for the opening of the accession talks with Skopje.

On November 23, Zaev said the deal with Bulgaria was not far away, while two days later he gave an interview which outraged the opposition at home.

He told a Bulgarian news agency that Bulgarians and Macedonians shared the same history, and caused a fierce reaction by claiming Bulgaria was not an occupier during the WW II, but an administrator.

On Wednesday, he charged Sofia of “not being brave enough to act as a European country,” adding its gesture “doesn't show either friendship or brotherhood.”

Zaev said Bulgaria stopped the EU enlargement process and that was “an irresponsible and big geostrategic mistake.”

Nevertheless, he added, “North Macedonia remains committed to seeking a solution with Bulgaria without any encroachment into the Macedonian identity.”

“Bulgarian attitude is irrational and offensive for Macedonians. It is not democratic and European to say to others how they feel, how they should self-determine themselves in the 21st century. It's not a European attitude to write some other nation's history; to impose the identities and convince it to accept,” Zaev said.

He added his country's statehood was based on anti-fascism.