- Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki met Tuesday in Madrid with Spanish counterpart José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil. Poposki was assured that Spain, despite the problems that EU is facing, remains dedicated to seeing the Balkans in the European family.

The Macedonian Government has appealed to Bulgaria not to open a second front against Macedonia on its path to Brussels in view of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s recent statement that for Sofia the proposal of Northern Macedonia for resolving the name issue between Macedonia and Greece was unacceptable for it suggested territorial claims against Bulgaria.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski welcomed Sunday his Bulgarian counterpart Borisov’s statement, or more specifically, the part in which he says that Macedonia should become a NATO member state.

“First, I would like to welcome the part of the statement in which Mr. Borisov says that Macedonia should become a NATO member state. That is a standing deserving of praise and respect. Second, as far as the name issue is concerned, I would like to say that we have a bilateral dispute with Greece in the resolution of which we are investing a great deal of effort and we are going to continue working on its resolution. We are open to hear all suggestions and views from all other countries yet in the end a solution has to be found that would be accepted by the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia in a referendum,” Gruevski stressed.

The joint Macedonia-EU Parliamentary Committee appealed to the Council of the European Union to confirm the recommendation of the European Commission and set Macedonia a date for opening accession talks in the course of the next Cyprian Presidency of the EU that begins on 1 July this year. The Committee, chaired by Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, German MEP of Greek descent , expresses regret in the draft Resolution for the omission of the adjective ‘Macedonian’ in reference to the identity, culture and language of the country in the Commission’s report on Macedonia’s progress in 2011 and recommends the European Commission to reestablish the practice of the previous progress reports, Dnevnik reports.

One of the main issues discussed at the meeting of the Committee was the name issue. The Resolution takes into consideration the Judgment of the International Court of Justice and appeals to the governments of both countries to resolve the issue either within the framework of the talks conducted with UN mediation or in direct bilateral talks. It also urges the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the Enlargement Commissioner to facilitate the reaching of the agreement, thus contributing to regional stability.

-    Finland supports Macedonia’s EU membership, said Finnish President Sauli Niinisto at the meeting with Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski in Helsinki Wednesday. The two officials talked about the bilateral relations, Macedonia’s aspiration for joining the EU and NATO and the name issue as an impediment to these processes.

Prosecutor General Ljupco Svrgovski gave up prosecuting SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski and the news agency MIA. The Prosecution did not find anything that could suggest a possibility for Crvenkovski and MIA to have committed the crime of giving away state secrets.

The Prosecution’s key argument for withdrawing from further investigation is the fact that there no “state secret” seal on the document that Crvenkovski presented in public.

Prosecutor Svrgovski explained that the document of the name issue talks bore the sign of “strictly confidential” but not “state secret.”

- President Gjorge Ivanov attended Sunday the 10th UNESCO Regional Summit of the Heads of States of South East Europe, entitled 'Religious, Cultural and Historical Heritage as a Foundation for More Intensive Cooperation among States'.

 

- On the occasion of the holiday of Ss Cyril and Methodius, a prayer was held for the 44th time at the Church of St Clement in Rome attended by a Macedonian state and church delegation led by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. Previously, in Vatican, PM Gruevski was received by Pope Benedict XVI to whom he gave a valuable Macedonian icon.

Of all countries supporting Macedonia that promised to try and raise the issue of Macedonia’s NATO membership at the summit of the Alliance in Chicago, Turkey was the most persistent, diplomatic sources who attended the summit told Dnevnik. According to them, during the sessions, the Turkish officials had several bilateral talks with the Greek representatives concerning Macedonia and the invitation for NATO membership. Turkey urged the Greek officials to allow a debate to be opened among all participants regarding NATO’s enlargement at which Greece would voice its stance regarding the invitation for Macedonia’s NATO membership rather than block Macedonia’s membership before such a debate was even opened. In this way, Dnevnik’s sources say, it would have become clear whether Greece would breach again the Interim Accord with a new veto despite last year’s Judgment of the International Court of Justice regarding the conduct of official Athens at the NATO summit in Bucharest four years ago. Albania and Croatia also insisted that the Greek officials abandon their rigid demands.

The NATO summit in Chicago ended with the same conclusion for Macedonia as the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008 – Macedonia will be invited to join the Alliance only after it resolves its name issue with Greece, Vest reports.

The NATO member states adopted Sunday a declaration of a total of 65 items, two of which mention Macedonia.

“We repeat the agreement of the summit in Bucharest of 2008. In order to extend Macedonia an invitation for membership of the Alliance, an acceptable solution to the name issue has to be found first within the UN. Also, we strongly encourage the intensive effort in this regard,” the conclusion about Macedonia says.

According to the declaration, Macedonia’s swift accession to NATO will stand for safety and stability in the region.

-    Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Chicago that the Greek veto was not going to defocus Macedonia from its partnership with NATO and the vision of a safer world. In spite of all drawbacks and challenges, Macedonia will continue to seek its deserved place in the European and Euro-Atlantic families. He believes the Hague Judgment seeks a new approach from the NATO member states – an approach that implies honoring of international law.

Three days before the NATO summit in Chicago, Turkey is said to be preparing a surprise in Macedonia’s favor.  The two high-level visits – Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki’s to Ankara and Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek’s to Skopje – show that efforts are being intensively coordinated to obtain a new NATO conclusion. Cicek refused to reveal what kind of conclusion that would be, saying that both presidents would be in Chicago doing all it takes and that the Turkish position with regard to The Hague judgment is clear, Utrinski vesnik reports.

Similar announcement have come out of Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov’s office as well. At the meeting on Afghanistan, President Ivanov is going to appeal that the Judgment of the International Court of Justice be included in the NATO conclusions. Macedonia obviously counts on the support of Ankara before Chicago and Turkey should be the country to lead those that would raise the Macedonian issue at the summit.

- Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki, who is paying an official visit to Turkey, met Wednesday with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and discussed about the coming NATO Summit in Chicago. Gul voiced Turkey's full support for Macedonia's integration to NATO and reiterated the position that it was necessary Macedonia to join NATO as soon as possible, which will be personally advocated by him at the Chicago event.

- 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.”