Macedonia

Macedonia initialled a Chinese loan that will be used to build more motorway stretches, the Transport Minister said at Tuesday’s signing ceremony.“The agreement gives priority to infrastructure projects like road and railway networks, bridges, energy and telecommunications facilities… [and] encourages cooperation among banks and companies from both countries”, Macedonian Transport …

The UN mediator in the ‘name’ dispute has put forward several suggestions for a compromise name for Macedonia in talks in New York – but his ideas have not been made public.After separate and joint meetings with Macedonia’s Zoran Jolevski and Greece’s Adamantios Vassilakis on Monday and Tuesday in New …

Plans by Macedonian Albanians to celebrate Albanian flag day on November 28 are drawing questions from the country’s main opposition party.Some Macedonians are protesting over plans by the country’s large Albanian miniority to celebrate Albania’s “flag day”. Macedonia’s junior ruling party, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, erected two 35-metre-high …

Forbes magazine has rated Slovenia and Macedonia as the best countries in the Balkans in which to do business. Serbia is rated worst.The US financial magazine in its annual list ranks Slovenia in 23rd position out of 141 analyzed countries worldwide. Macedonia is second in the Balkans, ranked in 37th …

A coalition of local NGOs dubbed “Coalition for Life” held a march on Sunday in Skoplje in order, as they say, to raise awareness amongst Macedonia’s youth about the importance of marriage and child bearing.Several thousand people brought their children along to attend the march in central Skopje, held just …

The UN mediator in the Macedonia-Greece ‘name’ dispute, Matthew Nimetz, has called fresh meetings with the two countries’ negotiators next Monday and Tuesday in New York.The mediator’s office said that Macedonian negotiator Zoran Jolevski and Greece’s Adamantios Vassilakis will first have separate meetings with Nimetz to assess the status of …

German municipal association demands restoration of visas for Serbia and Macedonia, complaining that towns and cities cannot cope with the influx of new asylum seekers.The head of Germany’s Association of Towns and Municipalities said the number of Serbian and Macedonian asylum seekers rose by 140 per cent in 2012 compared …

Macedonia has removed defamation and libel from the penal code – but some media unions and other critics say big fines will still intimidate reporters.The 53 MPs of the ruling VMRO DPMNE-led coalition voted in favour of the Law on Defamation and Libel on Monday. Twenty of the 123 deputies …

The opposition has accused the Macedonian government of unjustified spending and driving the country into debt with its controversial draft budget.“The budget again envisages spending of money on non-crucial projects,” said Vanco Uzunov, head of the Opposition Social Democrats’ economic board, citing the Skopje 2014 revamp of the capital.

An ethnic Albanian legislator threatened to torch the assembly if all other attempts fail to stop the passage of a controversial army bill that has angered Albanians.Speaking at Thursday’s session dedicated to the draft law, Zijadin Sela, from the opposition Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, said he and others would …