- President Gjorge Ivanov addressed Thursday the 67th UN General Assembly in New York and said that today in the 21st century it is absurd to be referred to as former state or colony. Presenting the ICJ verdict from the UNGA floor, Ivanov called on the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to invest his authority and become engaged in lifting the blockade to the name talks with Greece, as well as in respecting the ICJ ruling. Ivanov also cited the report of Gay McDougall, UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues, who in 2008 registered serious violations of the citizens of Greece in terms of freely expression of self-identification. Ivanov said that Macedonia is the only case in UN history that has its freedom for self-identification contested.

- President Gjorge Ivanov on Wednesday in New York met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and agreed that two decades is a long period for the Greek blockade of Macedonia and that one should not allow Europe, in the following decades to be ashamed of this dispute. Ki-moon informed Ivanov that he kept the promise and talked to Greek PM Antonis Samaras and required of him to intensify the talks for solving the name dispute.

President Ivanov is to address Thursday the 67th General Assembly of the UN and meet with mediator Matthew Nimetz.

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov met his US counterpart Barack Obama at the reception hosted by the US president for the chiefs of delegations attending the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York. At their informal meeting, President Ivanov requested of President Obama that the USA should continue its support for Macedonia’s NATO integration.

President Obama said that the USA was giving strong support for Macedonia’s integration into the Alliance and expressed gratitude for the contribution Macedonia was making to the military missions, such as the one in Afghanistan. He encouraged the dialogue between Macedonia and Greece for overcoming the name issue and expressed hope that a solution would be found, adding that he knew that the realization of Macedonia’s NATO integration required work.

- Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki held Monday talks with his Greek counterpart Dimitris Avramopoulos at the UN Headquarters in New York. Both ministers agreed that relations have changed significantly during the two-decade name dispute. Avramopoulos agreed that Greece's initial position about Macedonia as a threat to the stability in the Balkans with territorial pretension toward Greece was no longer valid.

Before representatives of some 700 companies including the owners of Macedonia’s largest 250, as well as before representatives of the Macedonian economic chambers, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski announced new economic measures that would help resolve problems in the real sector.

The debt crisis reflects on the Macedonian economy. The country is in recession and the biggest problem for all business owners is the delayed VAT refund. Prime Minister Gruevski emphasized that Macedonia had thus far been an example, considering VAT refunds were made within 30 days. Because the problems of the companies are problems of the government, he said, setting government liabilities toward private companies will begin immediately and be over by end February 2013. The funds for realization of this plan have been provided from the World Bank.

“The change of the concept is going to drive the budget deficit this year by 1 percent and next year by 3.5 percent, yet the funds of the World Bank will be approved at a favorable interest rate of 4.5 percent,” the prime minister said.

- Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki met Thursday with European Parliament's rapporteur for Macedonia, Richard Howitt. Poposki informed Howitt about the results from the recent meeting of the High Level Accession Dialogue with the European Commission and reaffirmed the Macedonia's priority - immediate start of EU accession talks. It was jointly concluded that EU membership should not be used as an instrument and means for exerting pressure over aspiring candidate countries. According to the interlocutors, it is more useful energy to be focused on boosting communications and all kinds of cooperation.

The international factor, mostly the United Nations, should intervene more instead of just following the process, which takes long and which harms primarily security, stability and cooperation in the region. This is what Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos is going to appeal for at his meetings with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and mediator Matthew Nimetz in New York next week. Before leaving for the USA to attend the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly, he said he would have a fringe meeting with his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Poposki, Dnevnik reports.

Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki said Tuesday that he expected an objective report from the European Commission in October.

“I think we have come to a stage when the start of negotiations with Macedonia has become a necessity for the EU as well if the Union wishes to maintain its credibility. Our goal is to continue carrying out all reforms because they are primarily for us. However, we expect the political leaders in the EU member states, including the country that has been making this path difficult for us, to make their own contribution to full integration of the Balkans,” Minister Poposki said.

Regarding the good-neighborly relations, he said Macedonia was nurturing good relations with its neighbors, was launching initiatives and projects and was working on creation of a positive climate in the Balkans.

I expect the report of the European Commission on Macedonia’s progress that will be released in October to be positive bearing in mind that the country has done a lot in the process of carrying out its responsibilities undertaken with the High-Level Accession Dialogue, said EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule after meeting Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski in Skopje Monday.

“A few times before, based on the report on realized responsibilities, the EC recommended the member states to set Macedonia a date for opening membership negotiations. This year, there is no doubt that a lot has been done in carrying out reforms within the framework of the High-Level Accession Dialogue between Macedonia and the EU,” Commissioner Fule stressed answering a reporter’s question whether a positive repot from the EC would have meant starting membership negotiations with the EU had it not been for the name issue with Greece.

- European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule assessed Monday that the process of implementing the reforms in five spheres in the frames of the High Level Accession Dialogue is really successful.

Now is not the right time for elections because of Macedonia’s European agenda. This was part of the agreement that Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and BDI leader Ali Ahmeti reached on Friday, Dnevnik has learned. The result of this agreement is providing the law on decriminalization and the modifications to the election code to Parliament for approval on the eve of EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule’s visit to Macedonia Monday. The meeting was confirmed by high-ranking officials of BDI who do not reveal any other details of the talks between the governing partners yet confirm that some positive signals were sent.

However, BDI was shocked the next day by the harsh and extreme messages uttered at the celebration of the Union of Young Forces of VMRO-DPMNE, yet Ali Ahmeti’s party dismissed the harshness of these messages, explaining they were merely for “internal party use.”

Prime Minister Gruevski said in his address before the Union of Young Forces of VMRO-DPMNE that he would not give up the law on defenders, that the army uniform had been abused in Slupcane and that the disrespect of laws should be condemned considering the new school sings in Cair had been illegally mounted.

- European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule is to pay Monday his third visit to Skopje this year within the frames of the accession high-level dialogue held between Macedonian and European representatives.

Before EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule’s visit to Macedonia Monday at the third round of the High-Level Accession Dialogue, the two governing parties in Macedonia, VMRO-DPMNE and BDI, expect praises and a positive report on Macedonia’s progress from the European Commission, Nova Makedonija reports.

On the other hand, the opposition contends that the government has only one achievement to brag about – the modifications to the law on following communications which passed Parliament Thursday. The MPs of BDI voted for the law as well.

- The Republic of Macedonia launched late Wednesday in Vienna the Chairmanship with the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.

After having blocked Parliament for two days, the MPs of BDI had a change of heart Wednesday and in the name of Macedonia’s European integration showed up at the meeting whose agenda for debate also includes the draft law on defenders. However, this did not unblock the Parliament’s activities considering that opposition SDSM announced a boycott of the meeting while BDI did not say whether they would vote on the laws proposed by the Government. Parliament was unable to continue its activities because the governing majority without SDSM does not have a two-thirds majority required for voting on the law on following communications, which is part of the European agenda. There followed accusations and insults as to what party is turning off the road of European integration and what party is doing nothing for its cause, Dnevnik reports.

-    The Macedonian mission to NATO on Wednesday in Brussels held a ceremony on the occasion of 20 years of the Macedonian Army which all ambassadors and official representatives of member-countries and candidate-members attended. The host, Defense Minister Fatmir Besimi, said in his speech that Macedonia is an army of age that is taking part in the NATO missions and expressed gratitude to the North Alliance for the support. Besimi said that in return, Macedonia expects to become an active member of the Alliance. Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki stated that Macedonia has many times proven that it contributes together with all members of the alliance. Poposki stressed that no one longer doubts how great the benefit from the full-fledged membership would be.

The crisis in the governing coalition has assumed a new dimension. After blocking the work of the parliamentary commission on labor and social affairs with marathon speeches, BDI voted Monday against putting on the agenda of the plenary session two government proposals for modifying the law on culture and the film fund law. BDI together with the other Albanian parties decided to vote against all proposals on the agenda, Utrinski vesnik reports.

The obvious suspension of institutions is expected to lead to a series of absurd situations, like the one Monday when due to this attitude of the Albanian parties, Deputy Ombudsman Nevenka Krusarovska aged 62 who meets the retirement conditions was not given a green light by the Parliament considering the Badinter principle was not met. The collateral damage of this ethnic outsmarting of the political elites is not just Krusarovska, who personally asked to be relieved of duty, but also the whole public, which cannot suppose when and how the coalition crisis will be put an end to.

- President Gjorge Ivanov, in his address on the occasion of Macedonia’s Independence Day, said that all institutions and every individual must work in order for us to create a free and democratic country. Ivanov called for unity over state interests and that the reforms that are being implemented are not for Brussels but for us and the generations that will succeed us.

On National Unification Day in Bulgaria, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov said in Sofia that the state was going to set out in a document its red lines in the relations with its neighbors. Analysts in Macedonia immediately reacted to his statement commenting that Bulgaria is dreaming again the dream of San Stefano, Dnevnik reports.

Mladenov, as the news agencies reported, did not cite any concrete examples and did not point at Macedonia, yet stressed that Bulgaria was and always would be open for guests from the neighboring countries and for developing trade and would always be supportive of the EU enlargement.

“However, Bulgaria is not a country that will allow tempering with its history and identity because they are Bulgarian and politicians have no right to come up with interpretations of their own. All such attempts in the past proved a failure and therefore it is important that we look ahead rather than back,” he said.

The first regular meeting with the ambassadors from the neighboring countries serving in Bulgaria will be held next week to discuss the document and fully investigate relations.

Macedonian Minister Nikola Poposki said Macedonia had no reason to view Mladenov’s statement as directed against it. His statements are for domestic use, he told Dnevnik.
 

-    The dispute between Greece and Turkey for determining the continental ridge west of the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea is the example that Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov bore in mind when he told NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Brussels Wednesday that Macedonia could join NATO and the EU without having resolved the dispute with Greece. Ivanov added that an exception had been made exactly with Macedonia’s southern neighbor. This example shows how contradictory Greece is considering that in its dispute with Turkey, it insists on the international law and seeks protection from the International Court of Justice in the The Hague, the same Court whose decision regarding the name issue with Macedonia it refuses to recognize and honor. Greece joined the EU in 1981, eight years of the outbreak of its dispute with Turkey.

President Gjorge Ivanov met NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule in Brussels Tuesday. Mr. Fule used the adjective ‘Macedonian’ a few times at the press conference although he diplomatically avoided saying whether ‘Macedonian’ would be used in the EC progress report on Macedonia, while Mr. Rasmussen ignored in his statement the Judgment of the International Court of Justice in The Hague yet stressed that any solution to the name issue had to respect and guarantee Macedonia’s identity, right to self-determination and dignity.

The Macedonian diplomacy is launching a new offensive with the NATO member states so Macedonia can be extended sooner an invitation for membership of the Alliance, which is still blocked by Greece despite the Judgment of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.  Four months have passed since the NATO Summit in Chicago and still no progress has been made regarding this issue, as the resolution of the dispute remains to be the only unmet condition standing in Macedonia’s way of joining the North-Atlantic Alliance. The objective of the Macedonian diplomatic initiative is making sure the Judgment of The Hague is honored and obtaining a clear position to this issue from every NATO member state, especially bearing in mind that NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in December of last year, only a few hours after the Judgment was passed, that the allies had reached an agreement that the Judgment had no bearing on their decision from the Summit in Bucharest, Nova Makedonija has learned from diplomatic sources.

- Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki takes part at the seventh Strategic Forum in Bled, Slovenia. The topic of the forum is the Euro Crisis and the challenges of South Eastern Europe.

The adjective “Macedonian” will be reinstated in this year’s report of the European Commission on Macedonia’s progress, as Macedonia stands an excellent chance to be set a date for opening accession talks with the EU at the meeting of the Council of Ministers of the EU in December. If Greece decides to keep Macedonia from being set the date again, it may be isolated, high-ranking sources from the Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Nova Makedonija.

The adjective “Macedonian” has been left out from the EC report that evaluates the country’s progress in meeting European criteria and that is usually released in October for a few years in a row, as the Macedonian authorities have continuously insisted that the European diplomats should start using the adjective again. In addition to the reactions from almost the entire Government, last year Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Teuta Arifi personally urged EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule to make sure that “Macedonian” is used again in the report. Also, President Gjorge Ivanov said during the celebration of Ilinden on 2 August this year that he would no longer accept reports concerning Macedonia that do not contain its identity qualifier.

- Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki visited the border region Golo Brdo in Albania majority of ethnic Macedonians live. At the meetings, the local population urged for construction of road infrastructure and final opening of Dzepiste-Trebiste border crossing.

The European hotel brand Kempinski is coming to Macedonia. Senior representatives are going to consider in Skopje and Ohrid over the next few days the possibilities for building luxury 5-star hotels. They are going to meet representatives of potential partners to discuss joint ventures, the Agency for Foreign Investments informed but refused to reveal what locations the Kempinski representatives are interested in. According to unconfirmed information though, they will be offered a location in Skopje near Vardar.

PM Nikola Gruevski with the government economic team is leaving on a road-show on the north American continent. Macedonia’s favorable business climate and investment opportunities are to be presented in Montreal and Toronto in Canada and in Atlanta, Miami, Detroit, Tampa and Charlotte in the United State of America. The goal is to present Macedonia as one of the best ranked countries in the world for doing business with the lowest taxes, recognized by world economic institutions. The investments conditions will be presented before at least 250 companies from the machinery, electronic industry and other branches.

Since the start of this year, the government team presented the investment conditions before thousands of companies from Turkey, India, Qatar, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Italy, Scandinavian countries and Russia. Macedonia was promoted as an attractive business destination in direct contacts with the directors of large companies from Europe and Asia.

 

The traditional Struga Poetry Evenings, in which 120 home and foreign poets are going to take part, began in Struga Thursday. This year’s winner of the Golden Garland is Mongane Wally Serote.

- US analyst Daniel Serwer writes that Greece should allow admission of Macedonia into NATO under the provisional reference and all countries from the Balkan should agree to ensure highest human rights standards for its minorities. According to Serwer, the Macedonian “name” issue is unique and it is also a zero sum problem: if Athens gains, Skopje loses, and vice versa.

Macedonia is ready for resuming of dynamic talks in favor of reaching a mutually acceptable solution to the name dispute if Greece is capable to find ample room for talks and decision. If Greece fails to do that, it should respect the ruling of The Hague-based International Court of Justice and the 1995 Interim Accord, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said Wednesday at a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

According to the Government’s press-release, PM Gruevski underlined that the respect of the rule of law was a must for all the UN member-countries and that its violation means disrespect of the world organization which is in fact the Court’s founder. Gruevski demanded of Ban Ki-moon to engage in defending the creditability of the court and the UN.