The MICNEWS website is getting 10,000 hits a day.

We are proud of.

MIC

- A Macedonian delegation composed of President Gjorge Ivanov and Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs Fatmir Besimi and Nikola Poposki on Monday are to meet NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton following the NATO Summit in Chicago. Unofficially, Ivanov will be able to present the arguments why Macedonia deserves to become a NATO member.

Fourteen people that participated in the stoning of the Government and the BDI Headquarters in Cair on Friday have been identified. The police continue to check the footage of the protests to determine who else took part in the violent protests culminating with attacks against a few journalists, cameramen and police officers that were injured. Criminal charges will be pressed against the violent participants in the protests that took place after the Friday prayer at the mosques in a few cities across the country.

“Based on the videos, 14 persons from Skopje aged 18-39 have been identified. In a consultation with the Basic Public Prosecution, they will be charged with participation in a crowd that committed a criminal offence,” said Ivo Kotevski, Assistant Interior Minister for Information.

- Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki, from 14 to 16 May, is to pay an official visit to the Republic of Turkey and an agreement on traveling conditions for nationals from both countries will be signed within the frames of the visit.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and the government delegation met with Wan Jifei, Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade in Beijing on Monday. The good political relations between the two countries and the commitment to intensifying the economic relations were stressed at the meeting. Prime Minister Gruevski presented the incentives and conditions that Macedonia offers for starting and doing business. He addressed also the government support for the companies deciding to invest or having already invested in Macedonia.

Mr. Jifei positively assessed the measures and activities of the Macedonian Government for promotion of the economic interests and expressed serious interest in promoting cooperation further and in conducting additional and advanced commercial and technical analyses of certain projects.

With the aim of promoting processes, Visar Fida, Director of the Macedonian Agency for Foreign Investments and Export Promotion, and Jufei, Chairman of the Chinese Council for the Promotion of International Trade, signed the Memorandum on Cooperation between the two institutions. The government delegation, paying a 5-day visit to China, is going to visit a number of cities and hold business presentations before Chinese businessmen.

-    A Macedonian delegation led by PM Gruevski is paying a 5 day visit to China. Gruevski is set to meet his counterpart Wen Jiabao. Gruevski will also address a number of business forums in Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai and Hong Kong, at which he will present the possibilities for investment in Macedonia.

Around ten thousand Albanians protested in Skopje against, as they said to the media, the staged processes against Albanians that take place in Macedonia. The reason for this is the result of the police investigation on the multiple murders in Smilkovci one month ago when five Macedonians were executed. The police arrested twenty persons and filed criminal charges for murder against six of them, two of whom on the run. The protests are organized due to the published analyses of policemen that the organizers of the execution are radical Islamists.

Protests started Friday afternoon in Tetovo and Kumanovo. 200 persons gathered on Tetovo’s city square and headed toward the court and announced that they would head toward the BDI headquarters in Mala Recica. Protests started in Kumanovo and resumed toward the court, the municipal building and police.

The protests began after Friday’s prayer in the mosques and few thousands citizens in Skopje started walking from the Jaja Pasa mosque to Macedonian courts under strong police security. The protestors gave a press-release to journalists, which will also be sent to the international community. The press-release reads that they “honestly share the pain with the families of the killed Macedonians and demand the murderers to be brought before justice.”

- Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski sent a letter to the leaders of NATO member-states in which he reminds of the contribution of the Republic of Macedonia to the realization of NATO-led international peacekeeping missions. Gruevski is sure that Macedonia’s NATO accession will not only benefit the region's stability, security and prosperity but at the same time stimulate the creation of trust between Macedonia and Greece.

To protest is a democratic right but composure, reservation and reason is needed to avoid violence and division. These are the messages that President Gjorgje Ivanov, parties and experts sent on Wednesday as result of the announcements that protests in several cities in the country against police action “Monster” will be held after Friday’s prayer in mosques. According to announcements posted on social networks, the protests against the arrest of the group of followers of radical Islamism who are suspected of being involved in the multiple murders in Smilkovci are planned to be staged in Gostivar, Kumanovo, Tetovo, Kicevo, Debar and Struga. Meanwhile, a counter-protest is announced that should be held Saturday at 13:00 outside the Government. It is announced that this protest will demand spreading of radical Islamism to be prevented and the participants are asked not to cause any incidents. The organizers of both protests are unknown but they caused disturbance in the country. None of the protests have been reported to the police but this does not mean that the Ministry of Interior will not undertake all security measures.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule said Monday at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski that he is satisfied with the high-level accession dialogue, which has brought new dynamics to and set the European agenda in the focus of a public debate, in spite of other present challenges. However, he also reminded the Government that it has to implement the roadmap it adopted in April. Fule and Gruevski, following the meeting, underlined that opening accession negotiations remains the common objective. However, in the meantime it is important to maintain the momentum of reforms.

“I am satisfied with the high-level accession dialogue, which has brought new dynamics to and set the European agenda in the focus of a public debate, in spite of other present challenges. If one take into consideration the limited time between the two meetings, significant progress has been achieved. The conclusions agreed at the first meeting in March have been met in all six fields and this is very important. I am satisfied with the roadmap adopted by the Government in April and now it is important to work on its implementation and see the roadmap as a living document,” Fule said.

- PM Nikola Gruevski stated that Macedonia has brought dynamics to the reform activities that the EU requires and the Government will manage to meet the deadlines that have been set with the EU guideline. With such assurance, PM Nikola Gruevski is to receive EU Commissioner Stefan Fule on Monday. Gruevski promised that the Government will try to overcome the name row with Greece because this hampers our Euro-Atlantic integration.

Terrorists often present themselves as “ordinary” citizens and do not stand out in order to gain trust and spread their network of collaborators. The true question is how to detect this threat more easily in the future in order to prevent hideous murders, such as the one at the Smilkovci lake, from happening again, says Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska in her interview with Dnevnik.

Who could be the mastermind of the monstrous murder of five men at Smilkovci, according to the investigation of the Interior Ministry?
- It is too early to say whether there was one mastermind or it was an idea of many. On Tuesday, we started the last stage of the realization of the operation Monster. By bringing the suspects before an investigative judge, the official court investigation has gone underway as well. The fact that the charges were accepted and court proceedings began means that much of the job has been done well. I don’t know what statement the suspects made in court and whether they said that someone organized them or convinced them to commit the crime, yet I do know that we are not going to stop before all are brought before justice no matter their role.

The NLA cannot be brought in relation to the murder of five men near Smilkovci village because it had been disarmed in 2011 and the motives for its activities back then have nothing to do with radical Islam, BDI says. This political party, which is the direct successor of the National Liberation Army (NLA), has thus acquitted of any guilt its former fellow fighters and called on the relevant authorities to determine whether any of the suspects for the mass murder at Smilkovci were members of the NLA.

In the video footage of the Interior Ministry of the arrest in the operation Monster, photographs and emblems of former UCK fighters including Kosovar Fadil Limani, also known as commander Tigri, who fought in Kosovo and Macedonia and who was killed in Vaksince in 2001, can be seen.

However, it was impossible to extract information from either the police or BDI Wednesday as to whether the detainees include former members of the NLA. The Interior Ministry says that they do not have any information whether any of the suspects are former NLA members. Even if they are, it is not considered a crime.

- Terrorism charges have been submitted against five persons aged 24 to 54. Three of them - one person aged 27 and two brothers - are most probably suspected of killing the five fishermen. The other two are charged for being accessories in committing the crime. The suspects, during the previous day, were questioned by police inspectors in several police stations in Skopje. Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska stated that all of them are connected to the murder of the five people near Smilkovci. According to Jankulovska, a five-member group participated in the massacre, three of them were direct executors and two helped them to flee. The five criminals were at the age of 24 to 54 and two of them are on the run.

The police arrested twenty persons early Tuesday, followers of radical Islam. 600 policemen participated in the action called “Monstrum” and the indicted are suspected of terrorism. Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska said that some of the arrested participated in the fights in Afghanistan and Pakistan and bearing in mind that Macedonia is part of the global coalition for peace and by number of citizens fifth according to participation of ARM peacekeepers in mission in Afghanistan, it is a potential target for terrorism. Large quantity of weapons were discovered in the police raid and the investigation will show whether some of the weapons was used in the multiple murders near Smilkovci. Considering the fact that Macedonia is a potential target for terrorism, the murders of five people from Macedonia could be revenge for the participation in the peacekeeping missions.

It is clear that the NATO summit in Chicago will not be about enlargement, says Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki in his interview with the Voice of America.  However, the contribution Macedonia is making to the Alliance adds additional value to Macedonia’s integration. After the summit, Poposki says, there is no plan B.

“We want membership. We deserve it. We have met all criteria. Furthermore, there is a legal argument in our favor following the Judgment of the International Court of Justice,” Minister Poposki emphasized

He informed that at his meetings with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and officials of the US Department of State, it was stressed in no uncertain terms that the bilateral dispute imposed on Macedonia by Greece should not be an impediment to the realization of Macedonia’s strategic goal – NATO membership.

China is more than welcome to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and that remind us that the political and economic cooperation is beneficial for all. Its impressive economic growth is not just a driving force of the global growth but is also an example of a development model created on a sound foundation. Europe and China have a lot to offer the world because that is also a joint responsibility and a debt to the citizens of the world,” Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said at the business forum “Poland-Central Europe-China” in Warsaw.

“The excellent economic and political relations between China and Macedonia retained their forceful dynamic in recent years and considerable progress has been made in a number of fields. Both countries are dedicated to promoting investments in infrastructure, agriculture, education and tourism, as well as in new areas,” Gruevski said.

China increased ten times the scope of bilateral trade in the last decade and Chinese companies are investing ever more in Central and Eastern Europe, attributing to the region great relevance as a gateway to European markets. According to Gruevski, in the past few years, China has been on the list of countries with which Macedonia trades most. Last year, it was ranked 9th with trade of some 482 million dollars.

- Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki met Thursday in Washington with US Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, Philip Gordon and with US Congressman David Price. Poposki urged the US to intercede in order Macedonia to receive NATO's membership invitation.

Maria Eleni Koppa, Member of the European Parliament from the Greek PASOK, has recently voiced an appeal that is not typically heard from Greek MEPs: bilateral issues should not be obstacles to the process of European integration of candidate member states. She elaborates her appeal in the draft strategy on EU enlargement 2012-2025 that she provided to the European Parliament. Her demand is all the more surprising in view of the fact that a month ago, when the Resolution on Macedonia’s progress was discussed at the European Parliament, Koppa said that an absolute prerequisite for continuing Macedonia’s European integration is resolving the name issue, Dnevnik reports.

Asked by Dnevnik whether she believes Athens should let Macedonia open membership negotiations with the EU, considering that in the proposed document she argues that bilateral issues should not impede the Union’s enlargement, Koppa replied: “My position has always been clear – bilateral disputes should not be an obstacle to integration and should therefore be resolved previously. The EU should use its role as mediator and help resolve these issues. So the answer to your question is clear – Athens and Skopje should resolve the name issue as soon as possible so it does not hinder the negotiations.”

-    Marija Efremova, Macedonian Ambassador to Great Britain, has been presented with an award for exceptional women’s contribution to diplomacy. She is the first Macedonian diplomat that received in London an award from the specialized magazine Diplomat.

A draft declaration reconfirming Macedonia’s strategic goal of NATO integration was provided in Parliament and to all parliamentary groups Tuesday by VMRO-DPMNE and BDI. Less than a month to the NATO summit in Chicago, the document calls for honoring the NATO principle of open doors and reminds that Macedonia met all conditions to become a NATO member state. The draft declaration also insists on honoring the Judgment of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, on putting the region in the focus of the NATO enlargement and on receiving support from the member states in Chicago for Macedonia’s integration into the Alliance, Dnevnik reports.

According to the draft declaration, Macedonia’s NATO integration should be the principle political commitment of all political parties, social stakeholders and citizens, who have the power to influence with their actions the speed and quality of this process and therefore share a responsibility to contribute to it.

- Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki met Tuesday in New York with UN Secretary General Bank Ki-moon. The meeting was focused on the name issue and the judgment made by The Hague-based International Court of Justice and according to Poposki, the ICJ judgment is a solid basis that can help solve the dispute between Macedonia and Greece. Poposki is also set to meet UN mediator Matthew Nimetz and US congressmen.

Personnel in two-thirds of VMRO-DPMNE’s municipal committees will be replaced in parallel with the dismissal and appointment of 150 new functionaries, Nikola Gruevski, Prime Minister and leader of the governing party, said Sunday. The new wave of changes inside this political party went underway a few weeks ago and, according to Gruevski, those to be replaced will still be active and VMRO-DPMNE will count on them, Dnevnik reports.

“Sometimes, it is necessary to take a step back, draw a line and get ready for the new challenges. These are steps we will be taking inside the party in parallel with the changes on the national level,” the prime minister said.

- On Tuesday, Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki will meet with UN Secretary-General Bank Ki-Moon in New York. According to announcements, Poposki is to inform Bank Ki-Moon that no one takes the judgment made by The Hague-based International Court of Justice into consideration.

-    Albanian President Bamir Topi is paying an official visit to Macedonia. After meeting Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, Topi said every criminal act should pass through all institutional investigations. Topi and Ivanov said the institutions of both countries are ready to cooperate in finding the perpetrators of the murder at Smilkovci as soon a possible. President Ivanov said there were forces, which do not want the region to progress and the situation to improve. He said he expected relevant institutions to do their job and urged the citizens not to fall for speculations, typical in such periods of time. According to Ivanov and Topi, the EU and NATO membership is an irreversible process. Topi expressed full support for Macedonia’s NATO membership.

The Interior Ministry has not yet determined the identity of the murderers of the five fishermen killed near the artificial lake at Smilkovci last Thursday, although speculations appeared Wednesday that the police identified those who committed the crime. Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska said there were certain preliminary leads concerning the perpetrators and their motive, which, however, cannot be disclosed in the interest of the investigation, Dnevnik reports.

“We have certain preliminary information we are working with at the moment. We have certain leads also with regard to the number of the perpetrators but that is also information that we would not share with the public considering that suggesting any numbers may indicate to the perpetrators we are on the right track,” Minister Jankuloska said.

She dismissed all speculations that the murderers or their associates had been caught.

SDSM and the parliamentary groups of the opposition front started boycotting the parliamentary coordination meetings held with Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski every Monday. The reason for the boycott is the fact that Veljanoski refused to put the draft laws proposed by SDSM on the agenda for debate for the next sitting, Dnevnik reports.

“The public had an opportunity to see that the opposition led by SDSM tried to improve the people’s lives with ideas, initiatives and laws. Unfortunately, all our positive legal suggestions were rejected by VMRO-DPMNE and voted out. Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski went a step further. Motivated by party interests of VMRO-DPMNE, in contravention of the parliamentary practice, he refused to put the laws proposed by the opposition on the agenda for debate for the next sitting,” Igor Ivanovski, coordinator of the parliamentary group of SDSM, explained Tuesday.

He also said they were going to inform the embassies about the unfair attitude of Veljanoski and the government.

 

- Czech PM Petr Necas paid Tuesday an official visit to the Republic of Macedonia and met with PM Nikola Gruevski. Necas confirmed that the Czech Republic supports Macedonia in its Euro-Atlantic integration and wishes to see Macedonia as a member of NATO and the EU as soon as possible. PM Gruevski stressed that the start of a high-level accession dialogue between Macedonia and the EU is a positive step in the right direction. However, it is not and it cannot substitute the launch of membership talks.

The killers of the five fishermen left the site of the artificial lake near the village of Smilkovci in an Opel Omega car, Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska said Monday. According to the latest information from the operative headquarters of the Interior Ministry, searching for the perpetrators of the horrifying homicide, the examination of the car revealed that it was used by the murderers. The police do not have suspects yet, although over a hundred of people have been summoned to interrogation.

In the interest of the investigation, Jankuloska refused to say where exactly the Opel was found yet reiterated that the car was found 10 km of the lake. She denied the information of certain media in Serbia that the car was found at the Blace border crossing and that the killers escaped to Kosovo. Jankuloska appealed to media not to fall for speculations and explained that not all information police had would be revealed in order to protect the investigation.

Nothing will change dramatically or overnight after the summit in Chicago if Macedonia remains outside NATO, say experts that Dnevnik has consulted in the wake of the recently promoted theses that interethnic relations would get strained and that the situation would radicalize and escalate. Is this an objective assessment or pressure for seeking out a solution to the name issue as a prerequisite for joining NATO?

The opposition parties of the Macedonian and the Albanian political blocs have already warned that a failure to resolve the name issue would aggravate interethnic relations.