A group travelling to a Bulgarian military cemetery near Novo Selo in the Republic of North Macedonia on May 6 was barred from entering due to "non-implementation of the conditions for entry in the Republic of North Macedonia as provided for by the Law on Foreigners" because the Interior Ministry in Skopje knows some of the persons in the group pose a risk to public security. MEP Andrey Kovatchev is not one of those persons but the competent authorities made this decision on account of the group accompanying him, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia said.
Every Member of the European Parliament who respects the dignity of the state and its citizens is welcome to the Republic of North Macedonia, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release. It said the government in Skopje prioritizes EU membership and to this end, all government and administrative resources are focused on the successful completion of the screening and the opening of the first cluster.
"At the same time, work on the constitutional amendments is entering a crucial phase and the working group has a short time to propose revisions. Since this is a sensitive process, there is no room for taking the slightest risk that would negatively affect the successful implementation of the revisions," the press release said.
MEP Andrey Kovatchev (EPP/GERB), Bulgarian Memory Foundation President Milen Vrabevski and another three persons were not allowed by the border authorities of the Republic of North Macedonia to attend a commemoration of the fallen Bulgarian soldiers on May 6, marked as the Day of Valour and the Armed Forces in Bulgaria.
This move prompted reactions in Bulgaria, as well as in the European People's Party and the European Parliament.
The Bulgarian military cemetery in Novo Selo is one of the few preserved in the Republic of North Macedonia. Seventy-one Bulgarian officers and soldiers of the 11th Macedonian-Adrianople Volunteer Infantry Division and the 2nd Thracian Infantry Division who died in the Second Balkan War (1913) and World War I (1914-1918) are buried there.
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