(ANSA) - TRIESTE, 12 OTT - BELGRADE, OCTOBER 12 - Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev did not rule out today the possibility of postponing the start of the EU accession negotiations, expected by the end of this year if the dispute with Bulgaria is not resolved. Bulgaria is part of the EU and continues to impose conditions.

Zaev, the regional media reported, referred to the recent talks held in Sofia by Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, which, in his opinion, had not a positive outcome. What the Bulgarian side proposes, he said, is not based on a spirit of friendship and good neighborliness. "If things do not change - the premier underlined - we'll have to prepare our population for the possibility that the two countries will not hold the first intergovernmental conference (on the start of the accession negotiations in Brussels, ed), as planned, in December." In recent months, Bulgaria relaunched historical and cultural heritage, which is the subject of lengthy disputes between two Balkan countries. Bulgarian and Macedonian governments signed three years ago a Treaty of friendship and collaboration that seemed to have laid the foundations for overcoming the conflicts.

According to the Bulgarian side, Skopje falsifies history, with the Macedonian language and nation being born during Communist Yugoslavia. According to Sofia's government, Macedonian would be a dialect of Bulgarian, and Goce Delcev, considered by Macedonians as a national hero, would be of Bulgarian ethnicity.

(ANSA).