Macedonia

MACEDONIA Name dispute with Greece is the only obstacle for Macedonia’s European Atlantic ambitions, said Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. “I assess positive good neighborly relations besides name dispute with Greece. We do not have any other serious problems despite these are the Balkans,” Gruevski pointed. In his words Macedonia …

MACEDONIA Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki commented on the talks with Greece and remarked that Macedonia has a constructive approach and expressing country’s position on the issue will not hamper the work of name dispute mediator Matthew Nimetz.

MACEDONIA Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki leaves Friday on an official visit to the Vatican, local media report. The minister will make an official invitation to Pope Benedict XVI to visit Macedonia. The invitation is sent by Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov and under the protocol it has to be handed …

MACEDONIA Although political parties deny it, the atmosphere in the country indicates that Macedonians could be heading to the polls soon, political analysts say. The ruling centre-right VMRO-DPMNE, which instigated and won the 2008 snap election, could again catch the opposition Social Democrats, who are is in the midst of …

MACEDONIA Macedonia’s position in the ongoing Athens-Skopje name talks allows a positive step to be taken towards a solution, Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki said Thursday. Milososki was answering a journalist’s question on whether a statement made by President Gjorge Ivanov in Berlin, two days earlier, that Macedonia remains committed to …

MACEDONIA The five-pointed red star on Macedonia’s official coat of arms, could soon be consigned to history. The government has already decided to remove the star, which dates back to the period when the country was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, local Dnevnik daily reveals on Friday.

MACEDONIA Macedonian Premier Nikola Gruevski hopes that Jose Manuel Barroso’s reelection on Wednesday as head of the European Commission, EC, will be positive for his country. On October 14, the EC will issue its annual report on Macedonia’s reform progress. In a congratulatory letter to Barroso, Gruevski said he hoped …

GREECE, MACEDONIA Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis is expected to meet UN mediator Matthew Nimetz later this month. The meeting with Nimitz has been scheduled for September 27 in New York. Bakoyannis and Nimitz will discuss the course of negotiations for resolution of the name row between Greece and Macedonia.

MACEDONIA, SERBIA, MONTENEGRO The newly-elected European Parliament meets Tuesday for its first plenary session. The agenda of the plenary session in Strasbourg includes the visa liberalization for Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. The newly-elected European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek and the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who runs for a …

MACEDONIA Offering solutions to the country’s painful economic problems and promoting social justice and equality are the key foci of the new platform of Macedonia’s largest opposition party, the Social Democrats. The platform, dubbed “Solutions for Macedonia”, is aimed at providing a counter to the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party’s own “Revival …