Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov became a bearer of the Cavalier of the Grand Cross for having achieved “great contributions to the Italian Republic”, a Bulgarian Government media statement said on October 15 2009. The award was given by Borissov’s Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi at a commemoration ceremony in honour …

The settlement of the Athens-Skopje name row is not an official precondition for Macedonia’s EU accession talks but will create a better climate for the same, ambassadors say. This according to the Swedish and EU ambassadors to Macedonia, Lars Freden and Erwan Fouere. Sweden currently holds the EU presidency.

A  renegade former Macdedonian Orthodox Church, MPC, bishop, Jovan Vraniskovski, has been sentenced to two and a half years in jail for embezzlement by a Macedonian court. A court in the town of Veles found Vraniskowski guilty of embezzling 320,000 euros while in charge of three Macedonian dioceses. He was …