For half an hour the Prime Ministers of Macedonia and Greece, Nikola Gruevski and George Papandreou, reviewed the talks at their meeting in Brussels, without any concrete proposals for resolution of the name issue, Greek sources said.

According to information of Vecer, the Greek position remains the same – a complex name with a geographic attribute for all use. Papandreou wished to hear what is acceptable to Macedonia and whether Gruevski was ready for concessions.

Both Macedonian Foreign Minister Milososki and Greek Government Spokesman Petalotis assessed the meeting Friday as constructive. The two prime ministers agreed that the dispute needed to be resolved for the sake of the region’s stability. They discussed how the talks had so far progressed but did not go into greater detail.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou put off the meeting with his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski set for Thursday. According to the announcement from the Greek prime minister’s office, Papandreou was too busy; first were the meetings of the Socialist International that took longer than planned, and then came the meeting of the European Council, at which the economic situation in the EU member states and the recovery measures were discussed. But while the Greek prime minister hesitates whether to meet Gruevski, the Macedonian prime minister had two important diplomatic days in the European capital, Nova Makedonija reports.

Judge Branko Naumoski is chosen to be the new president of the Constitutional Court, replacing the current president Trendafil Ivanovski whose three-year term expires on 1November. Naumoski got the necessary two-third majority of secret voting at Friday's session of the Constitutional Court. Naumoski was born in 1951 and was elected as Judge at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Macedonia in 2004. During his career, Naumoski was appointed in two terms of office for the Assistant Minister of Justice in the Ministry of Justice, he was also elected by the Government of the Republic of Macedonia as the Chief of the Republic Administrative Inspectorate and in 1997 he was elected Ombudsman of the Republic of Macedonia.

- Macedonia will spread its diplomatic network throughout the world but not by opening new embassies but with increasing the capacities of the old ones, announced spokesman of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Borce Stamov. 

PM Nikola Gruevski met with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Wednesday in Brussels.

Barroso expects the report on Macedonia to be positive. On the other hand, he called on Macedonia and Greece to overcome their differences since it is more important the future not to be held hostage by the past.

The Macedonian state leadership is touring Europe calling for support so that Macedonia is set a date for opening accession talks. President Gjorge Ivanov visited Estonia, Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki visited Hungary and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is going to visit Brussels on Thursday to attend the summit of the European people’s parties and meet a number of officials at the EC.

 

Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki on Tuesday in Budapest met with his Hungarian counterpart János Martonyi. In context to the Macedonian-Greek dispute Milososki said Macedonia does not want or expect a Christmas gift in the Euro-integration process but a step forward towards acknowledging the job done and implemented reforms by the European Union.

Even if the Serbian services allow access to the files kept in Belgrade, those data will be selective and there is also a possibility for new files to be fabricated, people close to the situation say. Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov asked of his Serbian counterpart Boris Tadic last week to make sure that the Serb authorities allow Macedonia access to the files of the former secret services UDBA and KOS kept in Belgrade. Although there is no official response from Belgrade yet, President Ivanov’s office says President Tadic initially accepted the request, Vreme reports.

The Interior Ministry responded Sunday to the remarks of the EU member countries and announced that the campaign for informing citizens that the visa liberalization is not an opportunity to be granted asylum by the EU member states would be re-launched.

- Serbian President Boris Tadic positively responded to the demand of his Macedonian counterpart Gjorge Ivanov for access to files on informers of Belgrade’s archives. However, for now, nobody wants to predict whether and when this idea would be realized.

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov had a meeting with his Serbian counterpart Boris Tadic in Belgrade at which they said the countries had excellent relations. The Macedonian president asked that the Macedonian relevant institutions be allowed access to the Serbian archives to help the lustration process in Macedonia.

 

 

Before singing a song dedicated to her enslaved ancestors, Barbara Hendrix, the world-renowned soprano and special guest at the celebration in Strasbourg, read the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, stating that all human beings are born free and equal and that they should treat each other in the spirit of brotherhood. While preparing her short yet effective discussion, she never thought that at the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights in Strasbourg, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov would complain in his speech about the injustice done to Macedonia and Macedonians in the Greek-Macedonian name dispute, Utrinski vesnik reports.

On behalf of the Macedonian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, President Ivanov asked of Europe not to celebrate only past achievements and to focus also on present challenges, thereby pointing out the problems Macedonia has with Greece and Bulgaria. So that the European Court for Human Rights can fulfill its purpose, its decisions have to be fully honored and implemented by all member states, President Ivanov said, hinting at this point at OMO Ilinden’s problems in Bulgaria.

According to Ivanov, some of these principles in certain European institutions are not applied to the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, primarily because of the political pressure from a member state.

“This two-pointed sword hurts more when striking the greatest benefit of democracy – human rights and liberties, and human dignity in particular. However, I am proud today both as president of the Republic of Macedonia and as Macedonian that on behalf of all member states of the Council of Europe I can utter the noble messages for promotion of human rights in Europe in my native Macedonian language,” President Ivanov stressed. “There is no country, no government and no power today that can deny Macedonians their right to be Macedonians, because human rights are stronger and more lasting from the transience of governments and politicians.”
 

The lustration committee opened a debate Monday and entered into a procedure the files kept under the names “Uncle”, “Mom” and “Shooter” provided last week by Shpend Lusi, professor at the State Tetovo University. The lustration committee is going to call for assistance from the relevant home authorities in making sure that the files are authentic.

- European Council President Herman Van Rompuy is coming to Macedonia Tuesday with the message that Europe is committed to the European perspective of the Western Balkans, yet there is a lot to do in the region. He is also set to visit Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania.

The lustration process prompted a verbal war between BDI and PDSH that are ach day accusing that functionaries from the opposite party have collaborated with the secret services. The situation worsened after professor at Tetovo’s State University Shpend Ljushi submitted files on three BDI officials under the pseudonyms Uncle, Bowman and Mama to the Lustration Commission, which he had found in his yard, writes Dnevnik.

The administration of US President Barack Obama to put pressure on NATO to admit Macedonia at the Alliance’s Summit in November. This is said in the analysis of the US Institute for Policy Studies “Heritage Foundation”, A1 reports.  

The Government and the Lustration Commission shift the blame on who was authorized to demand the files from Belgrade and verify the truth of information that these files might serve the collaborators of the secret services for “purifying” the bearers of public functions in Macedonia. The Government says that the Lustration Commission is in charge of this.

The Greek Government is upset by the latest proposal of Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki, who stated that Macedonia should start the EU negotiation talks under the interim reference FYROM and the eventual compromise name to apply when getting admitted to the EU. Greek newspaper Kathimerini says that sources of the Greek Government appealed Skopje to stop with the political maneuvers and focus on the negotiation talks under the auspices of the United Nations. Sources also told Kathimerini that there cannot be any negotiations between Macedonia and the EU without a name solution.

Macedonia is the first country that the International Monetary Fund has offered a credit line of 400 million euro with a low interest rate. This line presents a new instrument that is intended for countries with stable economic policies. The Ministry of Finance informed that the funds from the new credit line will be additionally discussed. At the meetings that Finance Minister Stavreski held in Washington with representatives of the IMF and World Bank, Macedonia was promised a credit line of 150 to 200 million euros from the World Bank depending on projects agreed. As the Ministry of Finance informs, the World Bank will support projects in Macedonia, primarily in the energy sector. Finance Minister Stavreski expressed satisfaction by the way in which Macedonia’s delegation was welcomed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, emphasizing that both institutions gave positive remarks on the quality of the economic policies and the results that Macedonia achieved in times of crisis with which the
stability of economy was preserved.

- The Revolution Day against fascism -11 October was marked with many activities across the entire country. The state political leadership, as never before, marked this holiday with ceremonious academy in the ARM in Skopje at which PM Gruevski held a speech. One hour later, the meeting of opposition SDSM began in Prilep at which SDSM president Branko Crvenkovski held a speech.

 

The name issue is an unnecessary problem in the midst of Europe, said the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Mevlut Cavasoglu. He says it is unacceptable for countries and nations to be blocked due to unnecessary problems and that a solution has to be found as soon as possible. He made this statement after meeting Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

Macedonia’s accession to NATO under the provisional reference “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” is an open solution, says Defense Minister Zoran Konjanovski in an interview with the Macedonian Service of Voice of America.

“We are members of a number of world institutions with the provisional name, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. I see that solution open too unless the problem imposed on us concerning our constitutional name is resolved fast,” Konjanovski said.

Macedonia should continue communicating with Greece regarding the name issue but should not forget about the reforms if it wishes to progress in its European integration process. This is the German response to Macedonia’s appeals for support for its integration into the EU and NATO.

“Maintain the bilateral dialogue with Greece. See if there is a chance for that dialogue to produce results and take that chance. At the same time, carry out the reforms at home the way the European Commission instructs you to. Keep your file and your achievements on a high level in Brussels, because, after all, that is always a strong argument that cannot be overseen,” said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle at the meeting with his Macedonian counterpart Antonio Milososki.

Macedonia appealed once again that the name issue with Greece be not set as a condition for its integration into NATO and the EU and that as a bilateral problem be resolved through talks.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki had a fringe meeting with his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle at the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and told him the Macedonian position to the name issue.

Nineteen US Congressmen sent a letter to US President Barack Obama to encourage the US allies in NATO to extend Macedonia an official invitation to join the Alliance at the coming summit in Lisbon, the United Macedonian Diaspora said.

“Macedonia’s future in the Euro-Atlantic institutions, as well as the security and stability of Southeast Europe should no longer be under the negative influence from the bilateral issue with Greece. Macedonia met all the criteria for NATO membership and the name issue is not a membership criterion,” reads the Congressmen’s letter to President Obama.

- From 4 to 8 October, Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki will preside over the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg. Topics to be debated include the issue with the Roma population.

Macedonia has passed the psychological threshold at the United Nations General Assembly after Syria has recently taken an unexpected step and recognized Macedonia’s constitutional name. The news reverberated more strongly in Greece than Macedonia though despite the fact that with this 129th recognition the option for the name issue to be put to vote in the General Assembly becomes theoretically possible, considering that Syria helped Macedonia get to the two-thirds majority that may vote through a decision favorable for Macedonia.

The missions of Greece and Bulgaria to the United Nations put pressure on the office of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon not to attend the marking of the Human Rights Convention of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg chaired by Macedonia. As Vreme has learned from diplomatic sources, the main reason for this is the fact that all reports of the UN and the Council of Europe say that these countries are violating human rights, especially of their minorities, and that Macedonia could take the occasion to raise this unpleasant issue to them before the UN Secretary General, Vreme reports.

Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki on Tuesday demanded of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon the UN to be more active in the process that is led by special mediator Matthew Nimetz.

Minister Milososki underlined that Macedonia wished to resolve the name issue within the framework of the norms of the United Nations which guarantee human rights and national dignity. He conveyed the Macedonian position that the dispute had to be resolved by honoring the resolutions referring to this issue and in line with the Interim Accord of 1995.

- President Gjorge Ivanov is encouraged by the meeting with US President Barack Obama in New York at which he was reassured that the US was well acquainted with the details of the name issue.