Respect for the rights of Bulgarians in the Western Outlands is an element of the criteria we are seeing during Serbia's EU membership negotiations, caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikolay Milkov said for Bulgaria On Air. In his words, Bulgaria and Serbia have reached many agreements on the rights of Bulgarians in the Western Outlands.

 "The problem is that they are not fully implemented, or not implemented at all”, Minister Milkov said referring to the Bulgarian language textbooks that should be used by pupils in the regions of Tsaribrod and Bosilegrad. There are textbooks for only a few grades, which impedes the educational process in Bulgarian, Minister Milkov said.