Macedonia

Macedonian President George Ivanov refuted media statements that the country has reached an agreement with Greece on the name issue which will be announced after the parliamentary elections.

National Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia is to be dissolved today by the chairman of parliament Trajko Veljanovski. Dissolution of parliament was made possible after it was elected President of the State Election Commission for early parliamentary elections – Boris Kondarko and was voted amendments to the electoral laws. …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will visit Serbia on April 19th, it was announced on Monday (April 11th) by diplomatic sources in Moscow. Belgrade will be the first leg of a Balkan tour that will include Montenegro, Slovenia and Macedonia.

The Macedonian parliament has selected Boris Kondarko for State Electoral Commission chairperson. Kondarko was nominated by the opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), whose MPs did not attend the session, because they were boycotting the institutions’ work. The move fulfills all requirements for dissolving the parliament and organizing early …

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has decided to send observers to monitor the early elections in Macedonia. According to PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu the organization decided to send observers although no official invitation had been received.

Macedonia needs to boost its reform process and reach a name agreement with Greece in order to avoid slowing down its EU bid, the head of the European Commission said during his visit to Skopje. “Now is the time to settle the name issue, and the new climate of confidence …

The Macedonian parliament will be dissolved on Thursday, April 14. Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanovski said the meeting was due on Thursday. The decision to hold early elections on June 5 would be signed on April 15.

Macedonia and Kosovo will sign a criminal law agreement, the Macedonian media reported. Macedonian Justice Minister Mihajlo Manevski and his Kosovan counterpart Hajredin Kuci are due to sign on Friday agreements on mutual help in criminal cases, extradition and transfer of convicts.

The European Parliament (EP) requires immediate start of the pre-accession talks with Macedonia and expressed its pity that the Council of the EU has not observed the recommendations of the EP and of the European Commission (EC). This is the basic message in the EP resolution for Macedonia, passed in …

The Democratic Union, which is part of the ruling coalition, is concerned about the appointment of Kristian Vigenin as European Parliament rapporteur on Macedonia, the local media announced. According to the Democratic Union Vigenin will not be impartial when presenting the reports on Macedonia. The party voiced concern also about …