In her words, the fire is the result of hate speech, which is why Sofia expects Skopje to adopt a policy to address this problem. For his part, the director of the centre, Ljubcho Georgievski, reminded that at the opening of the centre last month there had been "countless threats". He described what had happened as a "direct attack on Bulgarians in the country". 

"I don't think there is a flare-up in our relations with the Republic of North Macedonia, they are normal and constructive," Teodora Genchovska stressed. 

According to the minister, the start of the negotiation process for the admission of the RSM to the European Union is a matter of responsibility on Skopje's part as to when it will achieve actual results on the agreements.