- Macedonian name issue negotiator Zoran Jolevski, who had meetings over the weekend with the state leaders, said mediator Matthew Nimetz will be notified over the next few days of Macedonia's position regarding his latest proposal.

No matter what our personal opinion of the Framework Agreement is, it turned out that at that moment a decision was taken that concerned the future of the country and that had a positive and unifying effect, said President Gjorge Ivanov after taking a walk through the Old Bazaar in Skopje on the occasion of the 8th anniversary of the Framework Agreement. Everyone can have their own personal beliefs. But what is of interest to all is that we have a positive attitude toward it. This country truly knew how to build its future," he said.

Interview with H.E. Mr. Philip Thomas Reeker, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia

The United States is a true and sincere friend of Macedonia and I believe that the bond between our two countries is very strong. We are working together to secure the best possible future for all the citizens of this country and to realize our common goals. Recently we moved into our new embassy and I cannot think of any better proof of our permanent commitment towards this country than our wonderful new embassy.

The main strategic priority of the Republic of Macedonia remains to be its attainment of full-fledged membership of NATO, which the United States of America strongly supports. Macedonia is also committed to maintaining and, if possible, increasing its participation in international NATO-led missions with its own troops. How does the United States of America see Macedonia's contribution to the global war on terror?

Macedonia is a constant partner in the global battle against extremism. When I was in Iraq, the Macedonian troops stationed there were constantly praised by every contingent with which they served. Here I also had the honor of awarding medals to many soldiers who distinguished themselves while carrying out their duties in Iraq. I also know that the Macedonian soldiers who are in Afghanistan right now are carrying out very important tasks and they are doing a very good job. Macedonia can be proud of the impressions that these excellent soldiers are leaving on all the countries that are part of this multinational mission.

- The experts from the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination asked Greece in Geneva Tuesday to recognize the Macedonian minority and give them the right to speak their mother tongue. Nova Makedonija reports that for the first time experts from a number of countries at the UN bombarded Greece with questions of why it refuses to recognize the Macedonian minority and give them the right to speak their language. The Greek delegation defended itself saying that the recognition of the minority as "Macedonian" was a threat of potential tension in the region.

 

The ban on media presentation of the political party of Macedonians in Greece Vinozito during its election campaign as well as the Greek disregard of minority expert Gay McDougall's recommendations are some of the issues currently being discussed by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva.

The Greek Helsinki Committee and the Group on Minority Rights are going to present to the UN Committee the report which lists a number of examples of violation of human rights of Macedonians and other minorities in Greece.

Greece and Bulgaria have aired positive views of the visa liberalization for the people of Macedonia and I believe they will not check the advanced process for starting EU accession talks, said EU Ambassador Erwan Fouere in Ohrid, asked whether the latest pressures from Bulgaria regarding Bulgarian citizen Spaska Mitrova's case could change their politics to the Macedonian Euro-integration.

- Macedonia and Andorra have established diplomatic relations. Andorra is the 125th country with which Macedonia has set up diplomatic relations with its constitutional name.

The Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the verbal note of protest from the Bulgarian authorities reacting to the alleged pressure being put on Bulgarians in Macedonia. The MFA expects the Bulgarian authorities to distance themselves from the classical manipulation with human fates. The relations between the two countries must not be held hostage by people looking for an excuse for their family misunderstanding and crimes. In this regard, MFA mentions Former Health Minister Vlado Dimov and Spaska Mitrova, sentenced to 3 months in prison for not letting her husband see their child.

The Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs contradicted the information of the Kosovo television Klan Kosova that Macedonia is going to call for an international arbitration to demarcate its border to Kosovo unless the disagreements between the two parties are overcome soon.

"This is completely inaccurate information. The borderline to Kosovo is demarcated along its whole length. The minutes of establishing the main and auxiliary border stones have been signed by the mixed Macedonian-Kosovo commission, which gave the border international verification," said the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Petar Culev.

 

After a 5-year break the Serbian church authorities reopened the doors to the monastery of St. Prohor Pcinjski to the Macedonian state delegation for commemoration of the 65th anniversary of holding the first meeting of ASNOM. The state delegation headed by Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanovski and Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki marked the Macedonian national day laying flowers before the recently set memorial plate at the new chapel put up before the gates of the monastery complex.

The Albanian political parties are gathering points by taking advantage of the European Union's pressure regarding fulfillment of the conditions necessary for a date for start of the negotiations for membership. However, this does not mean that they have really become radical, political analysts say for Vreme. PDSH will decide over the next few days whether it will withdraw from the Assembly if the parliamentarians do not ratify the law on use of the Albanian language on the whole territory of the country.

- President Gjorge Ivanov signed the decision on reduction of former ESM director Lambe Arnaudov's four-year prison sentence and this decision was published in the Government Gazette. A few hours later this decision was withdrawn. Arnaudov's name will be erased from the list of 61 individuals that the president decided to pardon on the occasion of the national holiday Ilinden for, as the President's Cabinet informed, "technical oversight".

 

The European Commission regards Macedonia as a serious partner and a future EU member state as evidenced by the transferred powers for running European money, said Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Vasko Naumovski on Tuesday.

The European Commission decided to let Macedonia run independently the money of the third component of the IPA (Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance) funds intended for regional development on Friday.

This component totals 110 million euros, 40 million euros of which are for the 2007-2009 period and the rest is for 2010 and 2011. Two projects - completing the construction of Corridor X and building a waste treatment station in Prilep - will be realized in the first stage.

The Assembly ratified today the amendments to the Law on Financing Political Parties, one of the three laws stressed by EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn as a condition for the state to receive a positive report from the European Commission this fall. The amendments were ratified unanimously with 68 votes "for". 

Macedonia is making good progress, even though it still has some open issues, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki assessed at the press conference held following the meeting of the EU-Macedonia Stabilization and Association Council in Brussels on Monday.

The EU had most remarks about the political dialogue, the partisan public administration, and the fight against corruption.

The three laws that the EU set as a condition for Macedonia to receive a date for start of the negotiations for membership will enter an assembly procedure as of Tuesday, after the Government accepted the opposition's remarks about the disputable points. The bill on financing the political parties, which is considered least "problematic", could be put on the assembly agenda on Tuesday, as there is initial agreement on this bill among all parliamentary parties. The party leaders agreed at their meeting on Friday that the Assembly should ratify the other two laws - the bill on the Assembly and the bill on the state administration - by 15 September. As a result, the parliamentarians' annual leave will be shortened and, to ensure a swift procedure, no amendments to these bills will submitted. The parliamentary parties and Assembly Chairman Trajko Veljanoski will define the assembly agenda for August and September at their coordinating meeting today.

- Foreign Minister Milososki and Deputy Prime Ministers Naumovski and Ademi will attend the meeting of the EU-Macedonia Stabilization and Association Council in Brussels. They will discuss Macedonia's progress as regards fulfillment of benchmarks and political and economic criteria, as well as implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement.

"There are real chances of Macedonia receiving a date for start of the negotiations for membership with the European Union this fall. But this depends on the results achieved in the next two months," EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn stated at the press conference with Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski in Skopje on Thursday. He said that he is impressed by the quality of the reforms related to visa liberalization, noting that the list of conditions that have to be fulfilled for start of the negotiations for membership is shortening.

EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn will pay one-day visit to Macedonia on Thursday. During his visit to Skopje, Rehn will meet with President Gjorge Ivanov, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, and Assembly Chairman Trajko Veljanoski, the ministers included in the EU integration process, and the National Council for EU Integration.

 

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski paid an official visit to Serbia on Wednesday where he met with Serbian President Boris Tadic, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, and Assembly Chairwoman Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic. Gruevski and Cvetkovic stressed at their meeting that Macedonia and Serbia have similar positions on many issues, especially EU integration and economic and cultural cooperation. They urged Macedonian and Serbian Orthodox Churches to resolve open issues.

President Tadic stated at the press conference following the meeting with Gruevski that Macedonia and Serbia have different positions on Kosovo, but that the two countries could reconsider this issue after the International Court of Justice adopts a decision regarding Kosovo's independence. Tadic noted that the bill on minorities in Serbia would help improve the state of all minorities in Serbia, including the Macedonian minority. The Serbian president also voiced conviction that completion of Corridor 10 would help Macedonia develop.

The process before the International Court of Justice in The Hague should serve international law, not politics, Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki said, responding to Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis's statement that Greece will go to The Hague with strong arguments with which it will prove that the problem lies in the intolerance demonstrated by Skopje.

 Milososki stated that this statement of Bakoyannis did not surprise him, considering the internal turbulent political situation in Greece.

Under the pressure of the international community, ruling parties VMRO-DPMNE and BDI decided to ratify the bills on the Interior Ministry, the state administration, the Assembly, and financing of the political parties - which are a condition for Macedonia to receive a positive report from the European Commission - by the beginning of August, when the Assembly officially goes on summer recess. These laws will be adopted even though they do not have the support of the opposition - despite the fact that the EU insists on a consensus on these laws. Even though government coalition partners VMRO-DPMNE and BDI disagreed over the bill on the Interior Ministry, they reached an agreement on this law.

 

In accordance with the Order of the International Court of 20 January 2009, fixing 20 July 2009 as the time-limit for the filing of pleadings, the Republic of Macedonia has today filed its Memorial in the case that it brought against Greece on 17 November 2008, said the Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Greece will now have until 20 January 2009 to file its Counter-Memorial. The Court has left open the procedure that will be followed after that date.

In accordance with the rules of the Court, the written pleadings remain confidential until the opening of any oral hearings.

The Memorial was submitted to the Registrar of the Court by Ambassador, Nikola Dimitrov, the Co-Agent for the Republic of Macedonia.  

"We welcome the opportunity to submit our Memorial with the Court, a body for which we have the greatest respect as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. The next stage will be for Greece to file its Counter-Memorial, which it must do before 20 January 2010. After that date the Court will consult with the Parties and decide on the procedure that will then be followed. Our team has worked efficiently in preparing this Memorial, and I take the opportunity to thank all those who have assisted, in Macedonia as well as our outside experts, for their commitment and support," Ambassador Dimitrov said.

- President Gjorge Ivanov congratulated the Macedonian citizens Thursday on the toppling of the visa barrier. According to Ivanov, the fact that Macedonia met the criteria for lifting of visas shows that the Macedonian society is ready for the next moves for EU integration.

 

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski welcomed on behalf of the Macedonian Government and citizens, the European Commission's decision to propose lifting of the visa regime for Macedonia. "This is great success for our citizens. This is success of the Republic of Macedonia. This is success of the European idea in the Republic of Macedonia," Gruevski stressed at the government press conference on Wednesday.

The European Commission officially proposed liberalization of the visa regime with Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro. EC Vice-President Jacques Barrot and EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn announced this decision of the European Commission at a press conference in Brussels today, MIA informs.
"I am pleased to announce lifting of the short-term visas for the citizens of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. This is a historic moment in our relations with the Western Balkan countries. Visa liberalization will enable closer and more frequent relations between the citizens of these three countries and the citizens of the Schengen zone," Barrot stressed.

Within his farewell tour of the Western Balkans, EU High Representative Javier Solana had a meeting with Prime Minister Gruevski on Tuesday. Apart from Gruevski, he also met SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski and BDI leader Ali Ahmeti. Solana said at the press conference with Gruevski that he brought no date for starting accession talks, but brought good news regarding the visa liberalization. Prime Minister Gruevski said he informed Solana with regard to the meeting of the conditions for joining the EU and said that over the coming period the effort would be enhanced.

 

President Gjorge Ivanov is paying a 3-day official visit to Croatia. He met Monday his Croatian counterpart Stipe Mesic and afterwards they both said the bilateral disputes must no have an effect on the countries' EU integration. They also talked about the Macedonian-Croatian relations, the economic cooperation and the situation in the region.

- The Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration, Vasko Naumovski, met EU Ambassador Erwan Fouere on Monday. Naumovski stressed that over the next period, the Secretariat for European Affairs would work hard to meet all tasks in line with the EC conditions and that concrete results would follow in the coming weeks.

The Macedonian Assembly accepted the resignations of Agriculture Minister Aco Spasenoski, Education Minister Pero Stojanovski, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU affairs Ivica Bocevski, and Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Economic Affairs Zoran Stavreski at its session today. At the moment the parliamentarians are debating on Finance Minister Trajko Slaveski's replacement.

In his address before the parliamentarians, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski explained that the proposal for replacement of Slaveski was not made because the finance minister was involved in any illegal or dishonorable affairs or because he was incompetent. He stressed that he made this decision because he believes that it will help strengthen the Finance Ministry. He thanked Finance Minister Slaveski for all his effort so far and he asked the parliamentarians to support this change in the Finance Ministry.