There are no concrete agreements at a meeting of the Joint Historical-Educational Commission

Draft-recommendations for Macedonian textbooks for 7th grade, as well as on eventual joint celebrations, were the topic of conversation at the 36th meeting of the joint multidisciplinary expert Committee on Historical and Educational Affairs held yesterday and today in Skopje.

-Different views and understandings came to the expressions. As for the possible joint celebrations, there was a principled, not after concrete proposals – the Macedonian team said from the joint multidisciplinary expert committee on historical and educational issues.

Regardless of the different approaches and opinions, the Macedonian team of the Commission, as they point out, is striving for a proactive course, while advocating for finding constructive and sustainable solutions based on positive European practices, with mutual respect for the right to different perception to the past.

The meeting signed the minutes of the 29th meeting of February 2024 and determined the dynamics of work in the second semester.

Yesterday, when the meeting of the committee was announced, as a topic of conversation besides the textbooks for seventh grade in the country, the possibility of Goce Delchev’s joint celebration was also indicated.

« We will discuss the textbooks for the VII grade in the Republic of Northern Macedonia and the possibility of Goce Delchev’s joint celebration, » said the President of the Bulgarian Team of the Commission, Angel Dimitrov.

The new composition of the Macedonian team from the Joint Commission was elected by the Government on September 10, 2024. The president of the Macedonian team in the joint commission is Vanco Gjorgjiev, a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, and besides Mitko Panov, the members of the Commission are Aleksandar Litovski, Nikola Minov, Saso Dodevski, Besnik Emini and Dimitar Jorovski. President Vanco Gjorgjiev was formerly a member of the Commission, but left in 2021. The decision to withdraw from the commission, as she said then, was because she faced political pressures in its work.

The Joint Macedonian-Bulgarian Commission on Historical and Educational Affairs was established as a result of the Agreement on Good Neighborhood between Macedonia and Bulgaria signed on August 1, 2017.

So far, the Commission has adopted recommendations for the common celebration of five historical figures – the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, St. Naum Ohridski, St. Kliment Ohridski and Tsar Samuel and five recommendations for changes to the sixth -class history textbooks in Macedonia and for Patty Class in Bulgaria.