- Finance Minister Trajko Slaveski presented in Brussels Tuesday the economic situation in Macedonia, the effects of the global crisis and the government measures for dealing with it. He also presented before the ministers of finance of the EU Macedonia's pre-accession economic program for the 2009-2011 period, structural reforms and fiscal implications thereof.

The denar exchange rate will be defended with an IMF arrangement if necessary. If the situation of the foreign exchange reserves, which dropped by 480 million euros over the past few months to 1.22 billion euros, aggravates, the Government is going to enter an arrangement with the IMF, said Finance Minister Trajko Slaveski.

Slaveski is categorical that both the Government and the National Bank are resolved to defend the exchange rate on any cost.

Czech Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Aleksandar Vondra said at the international forum in Prague, which took place on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of he fall of the Iron Curtain, that Macedonia could expect visa liberalization this year, because in meeting the criteria it was a leader in the region.

 

"Macedonia has done a good job as regards the EU approximation process and is now in a position where a little bit of effort could result in start of the EU negotiations. This is the wish of the majority in the European Union and I hope it becomes reality," EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana stated following the meeting with Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski in Brussels on Wednesday.

 

The serious warning by Brussels to the Government as regards the dispute with Austrian state company EVN provoked divided reactions in Macedonia. The months-old dispute resulted in a court ruling with which EVN Makedonija was fined 200 million euros. EVN responded to this, threatening to sue Macedonia before the Arbitration Court in Washington. Then came the announce-ment that the EU would inspect whether the Macedonian courts discriminate against foreign investors.

Domestic international law experts interpret this as open political pressure by the European Commission. On the other hand, the political parties say that the European Commission is authorized to review the court ruling, considering that the state wants to be-come a member of the European Union.

- At the Council of Europe debate Tuesday, it was concluded that Macedonia deserved to be helped in its integration. French Senator Jean-Claude Frecon said the hesitation of NATO and the EU to integrate Macedonia was only encouraging Albanian parties in calling for ever bigger rights. He says Europe is obliged to stop the frustration of one part of the population and help the country. The President of the Parliamentary Assembly, Luis Maria de Puch, congratulated Macedonia on the way the elections were organized and said the country should continue advancing its democracy.

- Deputy Prime Minister Zoran Stavreski and Finance Minister Trajko Slaveski are trying in Washington to seek out a sustainable package of funds for covering the budget deficit. Macedonia wants to stabilize the foreign currency market by issuing euro bonds of some 150-200 million euros over the next 7-8 weeks. World Bank and IMF officials praised the gross salary concept that Macedonia introduced a few months ago.

Macedonia will be able to draw $77 million from IMF this fall without concluding a new arrangement. The United States of America has to decide over the next three months whether to accept the decision of G20 that every IMF member state uses its Special Drawing Rights. If such decision is adopted, Macedonia will be able to draw 77 percent of its quota, which totals $100 mil-lion, Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister Zoran Stavreski and Finance Minister Trajko Slaveski stated in Washington yesterday, where they are attending the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

- Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Ivica Bocevski said at the Energy Summit in Sofia, Bulgaria, Macedonia was dependent on imports of natural gas and other energy resources and was therefore interested in getting fully involved in all energy infrastructure networks being built and planned to be built. Bocevski said that a sustainable joint strategy on energy issues was going to contribute to a healthy competitions and better cooperation among countries.

Bilateral disputes must not impede the start of negotiations or the process of negotiations with the Western Balkan countries. This is stressed in Swedish EU parliamentarian Anna Ibrisagic's report on the progress of the Western Balkans, which will be discussed by the European Parliament today.

The report hints at the dispute between Macedonia and Greece, as well as the Slovenian-Croatian disagreement over the sea border. Diplomats in Strasbourg forecast that the EU parliamentarians will adopt this report to send a strong message to the concerned sides that they must resolve all disputes blocking the Western Balkan countries' integration in the European Union as soon as possible.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki in Brussels on Wednesday that Macedonia stood a real chance to be set a date for starting accession talks and be granted visa liberalization by the end of this year. Rehn said Macedonia was undoubtedly a leader in the region in meeting visa liberalization criteria. Macedonia should use the enhanced political mandate of the government after the recent elections for a wise resolution of the name issue by the end of the year, he said.

All sectors of the economy have been hit by the crisis and therefore the economic growth rate has been corrected from the originally projected 5.5 percent down to 1 percent, said Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski at the press conference Tuesday, at which, together with all cabinet ministers, he presented the package of measures for cushioning the effects of the economic crisis.

The measures include reducing the size of the record high budget of 2.6 billion euros by 9 percent, whereby projected expenditures will be cut by 173 million euros. The wage increase of 10 percent for the public administration employees that should have taken place in September has been postponed for next year and new jobs will not be created in the state administration, except for the sectors for Euro-integration and the Framework Agreement. However, the payment of subsidies to farmers will not be put off.

- Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki is set to meet today EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn. Visa liberalization and a date for starting accession talks will be the main topics of their meeting.

A Macedonian delegation, headed by Defense Minister Zoran Konjanovski and Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska and accompanied by Macedonian Army General Staff Chief Miroslav Stojanovski, is on a visit to Afghanistan, where they will visit the Macedonian Army troops deployed in the ISAF mission. The aim of this visit is for the Macedonian state officials to get acquainted with the situation in Afghanistan and the activities of the Macedonian troops.

The name "Republic of Northern Macedonia" is only a geographical determinant that Greece wishes. Any reasonable compromise to be reached with the southern neighbor regarding the name issue will have to be verified in a referendum, said President Gjorge Ivanov in response to the statement of the Greek Ambassador to Washington Alexandros Mallias, aired at the conference about the U.S. politics to the Balkans two days ago.

The Parliament is going to adopt a national strategy regarding the name issue talks before the start of the new negotiating round after elections in Greece in June are over. The coordinators of the parliamentary groups and Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanovski agreed for MP Stojan Andov, who filed the draft strategy, to meet Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki.

 Gjorgje Ivanov was elected with the votes of the Albanians as well and he has full legitimacy as future president of the Republic of Macedonia. He is president of all citizens, not just of one party, BDI leader Ali Ahmeti stressed following Monday's meeting with Ivanov.

The meeting, which lasted one hour and a half, was held in the Parliamentarians' Club at the request of Ivanov. The two offi-cials stressed after the meeting that their talks were constructive, that Macedonia passed the test regarding the elections, and that accession to NATO and the EU and re-solving of the name dispute should be the state's priorities.

- The Government is soon going to announce a new set of measures for handling the effects of the crisis, PM Gruevski said Sunday. He explained the measures could not be spectacular, because the global crisis was of external nature. Whatever measures we take inside the country, he says, they have a limited influence. He confirmed he had a meeting last week with all economic chambers and business associations and said the implementation of the infrastructure projects set out in the government program continued. The prime minister said the reconstruction of 2 roads began, and reconstruction of another 9 was on the agenda, a project worth 35 million euros.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki sent a letter to Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, in which he stresses the im-portance of opening a new border crossing be-tween the two countries at the Markova Noga-Agios Germanos region.

"The opening of this border crossing would be a significant step toward accomplishment of the declared commitments to good neighborly relations, which would give an impetus to devel-opment and cooperation in the area of tourism between our two countries. The opening of the new border crossing would also help intensify the trilateral cooperation and traffic among Ma-cedonia, Greece, and Albania within the Prespa Euro-Region," Milososki stresses in his letter to Bakoyannis.

Ten armed criminals robbed the Pro Credit Bank branch in the center of Skopje at about 09:30 this morning. The bank informed officially that 50,000 euros were stolen from the vault.
Bank employees say that the robbers stormed into the bank and started shooting at the vault. Two police officers were wounded in the shooting and they were taken to the Clinical Center. Two bank employees, who were hit by the robbers, were also taken to hospital. A woman driving in a bus near the bank was also wounded, as the robbers were fleeing. A bus-ticket stand nearby was also damaged from stray bullets.

 

The capacity of the Macedonian banking system for handling the effects of the global financial crisis is fairly good and the Government should make an adjustment of the public spending to the growth of the gross domestic product and of the inflation and should make sure the denar exchange rate remains stable. These are the main conclusions of the public debate Wednesday entitled "Market Economies Under Pressure - Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel?"

Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki took part in two working sessions on equal opportunities regarding gender representation and education and dialogue among various cultures, which were held within the frames of the two-day forum of the Alliance of Civilizations in Istanbul. At these sessions, Milososki talked about the emancipation of women in Macedonia and the reforms in the sphere of education.

 

Newly elected President Gjorgje Ivanov stated in Skopje that one of the first things that he will do as president of Macedonia is intensify the talks on the name following the elections in Greece. Ivanov said that the campaign and elections were the easy part, and that the state now faces the challenge of securing a dignified life for citizens, integration in EU and NATO, and resolution of the name dispute.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Serbian President Boris Tadic, and EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana congratulated Ivanov on his victory at the presidential election, wishing him courage and wisdom in his work.

VMRO-DPMNE presidential candidate Gjorgje Ivanov won 451,365 votes, thus winning the fourth presidential election in the Republic of Macedonia. His opponent, SDSM presidential candidate Ljubomir Frckoski won 263,457 votes. These are the initial results of the voting on Sunday, which were announced by the State Election Commission (DIK) following the processing of 99.46 percent of the data received from 2,960 polling places. DIK informed that the voter turnout based on the data processed is 42.69 percent, which meets the required limit for the presidential election.

The latest data from the State Election Commission show VMRO-DPMNE presidential candidate Gjorge Ivanov is the new president of the Republic of Macedonia.
According to the initial official information of the State Election Commission posted at 21.30 hrs, Ivanov polled 221,120 votes, or 66.21 percent, and SDSM presidential candidate Ljubomir Frckoski 112,844 votes, or 33.79 percent.
In the race for mayor of Skopje, Koce Trajanovski from VMRO-DPMNE polled 28,963 votes, or 66.51 percent, while Tito Petkovski from SDSM 14,581 votes, or 33.39 percent. Trajanovski is most probably Skopje’s new mayor.

According to the election committee of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE, the second round turnout threshold of 40 percent in the presidential poll was met. VMRO-DPMNE election committee chief Ilija Dimovski said Macedonia stayed the course of rapid European integration and thanked all citizens, media, institutions and the international community for having helped the authorities conduct peaceful, fair and democratic elections.

According to the State Election Commission, 554,665 citizens, or 33.65 percent, of the total number of eligible voters went to polls by 17.00 hrs to cast ballots in the presidential election. The first election round turnout by 17.00 hrs was 48.73 percent.
The turnout by 17.00 hrs in the poll for mayor of Skopje was 33.95 percent and in the poll for council members 41.69 percent.
In the Albanian-dominated municipalities the presidential election turnout is very low.

Aleksandar Novakovski, president of the State Election Commission (DIK), informed at the second press conference today that the voter turnout in the second round of the presidential election by 13:00 o'clock was 19.53 percent or 310,818 citizens. In the first round of the presidential election, the voter turnout by 13:00 was 26.24 percent.
The voter turnout by 13:00 o'clock in the second round of the local elections in 43 municipalities, where mayors were not elected in the first round of the elections, was 24.44 percent or 240,997 voters. In Skopje, the voter turnout by 13:00 was 20.46 percent or 89,721 citizens. In the first round of the local elections, the voter turnout in Skopje by 13:00 o'clock was 24.06 percent.

Aleksandar Novakovski, president of the State Election Commission, informed at the first press con-ference today that the voter turnout in the second round of the presidential election by 10:00 o'clock was 7.27 percent or 111,003 citizens. In the first round of the presidential election, the voter turnout by 10:00 was 7.97 percent.
The voter turnout by 10:00 o'clock in the second round of the local elections in 43 municipali-ties, where mayors were not elected in the first round of the elections, was 8.59 percent or 78,906 voters. In Skopje, the voter turnout by 10:00 was 7.30 percent or 28,091 citizens. In the first round of the local elections, the voter turnout in Skopje by 10:00 o'clock was 7.81 percent.

- Prime Minister Gruevski says in his column published in Die Welt he is disappointed that Macedonia is not going to join NATO together with Croatia and Albania at the Alliance's jubilee summit although the country met all membership criteria. "At the summit in Bucharest in 2008 Greece suddenly set a new criterion - changing our constitutional name," Gruevski says. He asks Greece in his column to observe the Interim Accord of 1995, under which Greece undertook not to block Macedonia's integration with international organizations.