Macedonia

Macedonia prepares for closer ties to Kosovo, by establishing full diplomatic relations with its neighbour. An unnamed high level source in the ruling ethnic Albanian political party of Macedonia, told local media on Wednesday. A political move over which Belgrade could possibly become estranged, was announced shortly after the announcement …

The largest ethnic Albania party in Macedonia, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, warned its bigger ruling partner, VMRO DPMNE, that its patience for resolving the burning Athens-Skopje name dispute is running out. The party vice president, Rafiz Aliti, said the talks for solving this row, which are hampering Macedonia’s …

BRUSSELS, Belgium Macedonia could receive a date for launching EU accession talks by the end of this year, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said on Wednesday (April 22nd) after a meeting with Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki in Brussels.

Bulgaria European Affairs Minister, Gergana Passy, has voiced her support for Macedonia’s EU integration. Passy said that Bulgaria is ready to help Macedonia on its Euro-integration path and considers that Macedonian authorities have made significant progress in this regard, after Wednesday’s meeting with Macedonian Deputy PM and European Affairs Minister …

The United States President, Barack Obama, sent a letter of congratulations to Macedonian President elect, Georgi Ivanov, Macedonia’s ruling party VMRO DPMNE quoted Thursday. In the letter, Obama expressed thanks to the country for its participation in the peacekeeping missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I am looking forward with great …

Politically, Macedonia has been performing well which might recommend it for exemption from the European Union’s visa regime, the European Union Enlargement Commissioner, Olli Rehn, was quoted as saying Wednesday in Brussels. Skopje is very eager for a quick decision to lift the EU visa barrier that has been hampering …

The attack against the independence of the Constitutional Court by the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party is “unacceptable”, Macedonia’s outgoing President, Branko Crvenkovski says. Crvenkovski’s statement made Tuesday afternoon, referred to the reaction of the ruling ‘right from centre’ party on the Constitutional Court’s decision to annul their law allowing …

Macedonia is cutting expenses and introducing a set of fresh measures to help its economy caught in the world economic downturn, the government said Tuesday. The announcement came late yesterday, of a nine percent cut in the state budget previously set at 2.5 billion euros. In addition, predictions released in …

The provisions from the Ohrid Peace Accord are partial and need to be widened to provide greater rights to the ethnic Albanians, says Rufi Osmani, a controversial local ethnic Albanian leader. In an interview for the local Dnevnik daily this charismatic figure, who was re-elected as mayor of the western …

Greek hints that it approves of the UN’s latest proposal “Republic of Northern Macedonia” as a compromise name for Macedonia has been met with a cold reception by the leadership in Skopje. Speaking at a Washington-held conference dedicated to United States policy towards the Balkans, the Greek Ambassador to the …