- Macedonian Ambassador to United States of America Zoran Jolevski is named new representative of Macedonia in talks on name issue. President Crvenkovski expresses support for this proposal of Prime Minister Gruevski. Ambassador Jolevski asks that former representative Nikola Dimitrov and Martin Protoger, chief of staff at Prime Minister’s Cabinet, remain in Macedonian team.

The Government adopted a package of some ten measures to assuage the effects of the global financial crisis by way of cutting taxes, customs duties and contributions and granting payment privileges. According to Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, this package is going to save firms 330 million euros. Both economic chambers' reactions to the set of preventive measures are positive.

- Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki is attending summit of foreign ministers of Central European Initiative countries, which is taking place in Chisinau, Moldavia, on 27 and 28 November.

Afrim Arifi, 39-year-old member of the “Alfa” police unit, was killed and two other police officers were wounded in a drive-by shooting near the Faculty of Science in the Skopje suburb of Gazi Baba at about 11:30 on Wednesday. A group of three or four individuals opened fire at the three members of the “Alfa” police unit from a “Golf”. Over 30 bullets were fired in this drive-by shooting, some of which ended up in the building of the faculty.

- France supports Macedonia in visa liberalization process and will invest effort to speed up this process, French State Secretary for EU Affairs Jean-Pierre Jouyet says following meeting with Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Bocevski in Paris.

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, who is on a working visit to Norway, met with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. Gruevski stated that, despite Macedonia’s lawsuit against Greece, Macedonia would continue to participate in the talks on the name issue. Norwegian Prime Minister Stoltenberg stressed that Norway supports Macedonia, noting that this was proven at the NATO Summit in Bucharest when this country supported Macedonia’s candidacy for membership. Macedonia will open an embassy in Norway in the first half of year 2009.

Kindergarten, primary school, and secondary school employees will start a general strike today. They will be at their workplaces, but they will not hold any classes. This decision is the result of the unsuccessful negotiations between SONK (Trade Union of Education, Science, and Culture Employees) and government representatives, who failed to reach an agreement on the trade union’s demands.

The Macedonian Government appreciates the Greek senior officials’ statements that they recognize the validity of the Interim Accord, in which Article 11 is an important segment, Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki said on Thursday in response to Greece’s reactions to the lawsuit that Macedonia filed with the International Court of Justice.

“The mere fact that the Greek Government does not dispute the competence of the International Court of Justice is a useful prerequisite for the credibility of the court, as well as for the case pertaining to protection of Article 11 of this accord,” Milososki said.

 

The Regional Economic Forum under President Branko Crvenkovski's auspices begins in Ohrid today. The heads of state of Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina will debate the global financial crisis and the regional ramifications.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague confirmed on Tuesday that it received Macedonia’s lawsuit against Greece.

The Government consulted a number of highly experienced foreign legal experts before it decided to file the motion. Thomas Franck, international law professor at the New York University, will be leader of the Macedonian team at The Hague. He used to cooperate with the Hague Academy of International Law and the universities of Princeton, Cambridge, and Stanford. The second consultant is Croatian international law expert Budislav Vukas. Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki is Macedonia’s official representative before the court.

- Legal experts support the Government's decision to file a lawsuit against Greece with the International Court of Justice for breaching Article 11 of the Interim Accord signed on 13 September 1995.

Macedonia filed legal proceedings against Greece at the International Court of Justice in The Hague over Athens’s veto at the NATO Summit in Bucharest. In this lawsuit, Macedonia calls on the court in The Hague to instruct Athens to comply with the Interim Accord and not to block Macedonia’s accession to NATO and the other international organizations of which Greece is a member.

- Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki explained that the pressing of charges against Greece before the International Court of Justice did not put an end to the negotiations, which, he said, would continue as before under the UN auspices.

The Republic of Macedonia filed today charges against Greece before the International Court of Justice in order to impose on its southern neighbor to observe the Interim Accord of 1995.

Serbian President Boris Tadic called on the Macedonian and Montenegrin Governments to appoint new ambassadors to Serbia, to normalize the strained relations between the countries. Tadic said that Serbia wants the best of relations with Macedonia and Montenegro, but he stressed that it is up to the governments of these two countries to make the first step. “It is not Serbia’s turn now to reinstate the Montenegrin and Macedonian ambassadors. It is up to these two countries to propose new ambassadors. Then Serbia will appraise the situation and make an adequate decision that will protect the citizens’ interests,” Serbian President Tadic said in an interview for Serbian news agency Beta.

The Macedonian Foreign Ministry will send a letter to European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering in which it will protest against the report on the rights of the minorities in the Western Balkans, which was commissioned by the European Parliament, in which the Macedonian citizens are named “FYROMacedonians”. This study was prepared by four experts from the Universities of Cambridge and Nottingham.

The local and presidential elections in March next year will be a key test for the country to improve the impression left by the early parliamentary elections, Jan Truszczyński, deputy director-general of the European Commission’s Directorate for Enlargement, stressed at Wednesday’s session of the National Council for EU Integration.

- Macedonian Culture Ministry organizes, for first time, Days of Macedonian Culture in United States of America. Pianist Simon Trpcevski and opera singer Boris Trajanov will hold concerts, Milco Mancevski’s movie “Before the Rain” will be shown, and exhibitions of artworks of Macedonian artists will be held within frames of this event.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and his associates are paying a visit to the Silicon Valley in California where the forum "Macedonia - Country of IT Experts" is to be held. The Macedonian Government and Intel signed a Memorandum for Understanding in San Francisco. The Macedonian delegation also includes U.S. Ambassador Philip Reeker.

- President Crvenkovski visits Poland at invitation of Polish President Lech Kaczyński, where he will attend ceremony organized on occasion of 90th anniversary of restoring of Poland’s independence. Crvenkovski and Kaczyński discussed obstacles that prevent Macedonia from integrating in European Union. Polish president confirms Poland’s support for Macedonia’s Euro Atlantic integration and stresses that Poland will not change its position as regards use of Macedonia’s constitutional name.

The reports on the progress of the Western Balkan countries provoked numerous reactions in political circles in Brussels. Most of them criticized the European Commission for applying double standards as regards integration in the EU, that is, that with regards to some countries, like “Croatia and Serbia”, it turns a blind eye to the problems, while as regards other countries (like Macedonia) it emphasizes the problems. Others note that the European Commission had obviously made a decision to slow down the enlargement process and that for some unfathomable reason it tolerates the blockade of EU member countries, like Greece and Slovenia, the weekend edition of Utrinski Vesnik reports.

- A government delegation headed by PM Gruevski is starting today a one-week visit to the United States of America. At the business forums in San Francisco and Chicago, Macedonia will be presented as a favorable business destination.

“The European Commission’s report on Macedonia is insufficiently flexible,” EU parliamentarian Jelko Kacin assessed in an interview for Deutsche Welle, Utrinski Vesnik reports.

Kacin stressed that the European Union is entering a difficult phase, which is a result of the financial crisis. “Change is needed, more enthusiasm is needed. Unfortunately, we will have to wait for new elections and a new commission if we want to move forward,” Kacin stressed.

- MEP Agelika Beer says in her interview with Nova Makedonija she will not be surprised if Macedonians turn Euro-skeptics. She says she is afraid that the harsh criticisms concerning Macedonia's failure to meet certain political criteria and the double standards demonstrated in the latest EC progress report may make Macedonians renounce their European spirit. She also cites Romania and Bulgaria, already EU member states with grave internal problems, as examples of the EU's employment of double standards.

The European Commission released its report on the progress of Macedonia on Wednesday. In this report, the EC praises the police and judicial reforms in the country, but it criticizes the poorly organized parliamentary elections. EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn stressed once again yesterday that the name issue is not a criterion for membership in the EU, but he urged that the dispute be resolved in the spirit of good neighborly relations. EU Ambassador to Macedonia Erwan Fouere presented EC’s report to Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, who assessed it as realistic.

- Government assesses President Crvenkovski’s decision to recall Dimitrov as unexpected, warning that this will cause damage to ongoing talks.

- Ambassador Nikola Dimitrov releases written statement in reaction to his recalling from post Macedonia’s representative in talks on name dispute. In this statement he expresses disagreement with President Crvenkovski’s decision and his explanation for this decision. Dimitrov stresses that in these five years in which he performed task of representative in talks, he always worked in interest of Macedonia and Macedonian citizens.

The Macedonian Parliament adopted Monday a resolution on determining a state strategy for resolving the name dispute with Greece. President Branko Crvenkovski and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski defended their respective positions over the course of the debate. The President reiterated that the double formula meant discontinuation of the talks, while PM Gruevski stayed firmly on the position that the double formula was the best solution to the dispute.

- President Branko Crvenkovski said he withdrew negotiator Nikola Dimitrov from the name issue talks conducted with Greece under the UN auspices. He explained he did this in order to stop the ridiculous situation that Greece uses as an argument that Macedonia is disunited as evident by its two negotiators.