The Commission on Names and the Law on Associations and Foundations' decisions are not directed against the guaranteed freedom for association but against decisions that associations bear the names of controversial individuals who cause discomfort among the citizens of the country, the Foreign Ministry of North Macedonia wrote on its website. The comment came after the ban on two Bulgarian associations in the Republic of North Macedonia was struck by the ban on the use of their names - Ivan Mihailov in Bitola and Tsar Boris III in Ohrid.
According to Foreign Minister Nikolay Milkov, Bulgaria is watching with concern to limit the right of association of Bulgarians in North Macedonia and will signal to its European partners after Thursday's attack on the Bulgarian Cultural and Information Center in Skopje.