Macedonia

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 …

Only the likes of Barack Obama or Bill Clinton could apply to be advisers to Macedonian Health Minister Nikola Todorov, apparently, as the condition is having an IQ above 140.In a job announcement posted on Thursday, Macedonia’s health ministry said it was looking for seven to ten candidates to serve …

The European Council this December should extend a start date for Macedonia’s EU membership talks, the European Parliament rapporteur on Macedonia Richard Howitt said.“This country has reached a point when negotiations should be opened,” Howitt said in Macedonia. “All of my efforts and energy are focused on the attempt at …

Macedonia and Bulgaria may jointly celebrate Europe Day, Bulgarian recognition of Macedonian independence and the establishment of diplomatic ties, Macedonia’s President has suggested to his Bulgarian counterpart.Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov’s suggestion came in the form of a reply to a letter from Bulgaria’s head of state, Rosen Plevneliev, sent on …

The main ruling VMRO DPMNE party of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is holding on to public support, a poll by the Skopje-based Institute for Political Research, IPIS, suggests.Asked which party they would vote for, were an election held next week, 22.5 per cent of the respondents said they would vote …

The small right wing TMRO party, part of the Macedonian government, has retreated from its idea of taxing unmarried people as a way of boosting birth rate.In a written statement issued on Monday the head of TMRO, Vanco Sehtanski, withdrew the proposal and apologised to “all concerned”. “The idea for …

Macedonia is expected to finish this year on zero per cent economic growth, the Central Bank Governor says, forecasting the same figure for 2013 as well.Bank Governor Dimitar Bogov blamed economic stagnation on shrinking exports caused by the European crisis. Macedonia exports more than half of its produce to European …

Macedonia’s Constitutional Court has refused to evaluate whether parliament’s decision last year not to prosecute four war crime cases was constitutional.Wednesday’s decision brings to an end the legal challenge by the victims’ relatives to the controversial move by the Macedonian parliament. In July 2011, the ruling coalition voted to abandon …

After a court in September banned their previous planned strike, Macedonian doctors have vowed to ahead with a strike on November 14, whatever the courts say.Macedonian medics say Health Ministry pressures and court bans will not stop them from taking industrial action over the ministry’s new way of calculating their …