- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted to the improper use of the term Slavs by the new US Ambassador Jess Bailey at the hearing in the Senate in Washington. Due to this, on Monday, the US deputy ambassador will be called in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the discontent from this way of naming the Macedonian nation will be conveyed.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski in Ankara on Thursday that Turkey was a true friend that Macedonia could always count on. President Erdogan said he was glad that PM Gruevski had been presenting Macedonia as an investment destination in Turkey over the past few days and stressed his support for Macedonia and its Euro-Atlantic aspirations, Utrinski vesnik reports.

"Along this path, you can find a friend in Turkey," he said.

Similar assessments came from Prime Minister Davutoglu, too. He deemed Prime Minister Gruevski's visit as important because it was the first visit of a foreign prime minister since his appointment to the new office.

"Our relations with Macedonia are good and friendly. Also, we have historical ties. These good connections have an effect on the economic and political relations as well," Davutoglu said at the press conference he held together with his Macedonian counterpart. "Turkey supports Macedonia's bid for joining NATO and the EU and we hope one day we will be in the EU together."

- Turkish businessmen are interested to invest in tourism, energy, metal and chemical industry in Macedonia. On Tuesday, after the business forum in Izmit, they held separate meetings with the government delegation headed by PM Nikola Gruevski. Following the business forum in Kocaeli, the government delegation continues the presentation of the conditions for doing business before the Turkish businessmen in Eskişehir, Ankara, Adana and Mersin. On Wednesday, a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is expected to be realized.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia and Serbia, Nikola Poposki and Ivica Dacic, signed the agreement on rational use of resources and sharing diplomatic missions and consular offices abroad in Skopje on Monday. The locations at which this cooperation will be carried out will soon be defined.

After meeting his Macedonian host, Minister Dacic said at a press conference that Macedonia and Serbia were friendly countries and that it was in their best interest that relations were promoted as much as possible.

"Serbia supports Macedonia's European future. This region has been unjustly underestimated for years and decades in relation to the other parts of Europe and therefore it deserves to be integrated into the EU as soon as possible," he said.

- Macedonia and Serbia are part of the global alliance that fights against terrorism and the Islamic radicalism but we must fight everywhere it appears and not only when it endangers the interests of certain countries. This fierce message to the Western countries was sent Monday from Skopje by Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic. Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki said that we must together tackle the threat.

- On the occasion of the 20th anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Macedonia and the Kingdom of Belgium, an exhibition of animated paintings was organized Thursday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The exhibition was opened by Minister Nikola Poposki and the Belgian Ambassador to Sofia, Anick Van Calster attended it too.

The constitutional modifications have to be a result of a political and social consensus, of a comprehensive analysis of how the legal system functions. They should not be partial and perhaps we should consider assuming an integral approach to changing the Constitution or drafting a completely new Constitution. Although being passed in the absence of the opposition, the modifications are legitimate for being proposed by the coalition that won the elections. These were some of the views expressed at Wednesday's expert debate organized by the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU) concerning the government-proposed constitutional modifications.

MANU President Vlado Kambovski said the act of modifying the Constitution should be an act of broadest and possibly consensual choice of all political entities and citizens.

"I believe this act significant for the constitutional and legal order of the state and its social system should be an occasion for normalizing relations in the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia so the proposed modifications would have full legitimacy and be a base for further talks," he said.

- Zagreb is unable to help Skopje solve the problem with Athens, said Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic after meeting with Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski in Skopje, Tuesday and added that the most that can be done is for Croatia to remain a friend but not meddle in this issue. “We live in the present, I know this sounds like a phrase, but Macedonia is a small country that cannot represent a threat to anyone,” said Milanovic. Milanovic and Gruevski talked about enhancing the economic cooperation between the two countries, the trade exchange, tourism and infrastructural projects.

- The Republic of Macedonia is prepared to deal with the security challenges at a regional and global level, said President of the Republic of Macedonia, Gjorge Ivanov, in an interview with Macedonian Television, on the occasion of the Independence Day. “Our entire region is drowning in a situation in which events which were unpredictable are happening. These are global threats. Our institutions are prepared to tackle these challenges,” said President Ivanov.

The principles such as the rule of law, peaceful conflict settlement, self-determination right – in other to preserve their value – should be equally applicable for both the powerful and less powerful, stressed Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki at the NATO Summit in Cardiff during the session of contributor-states to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan.

“It is good news that today Macedonia’s neighbors are no threat to the country and vice versa. On the contrary, we act together in promoting peace, cooperation and rule of law. However, the principles such as the rule of law, peaceful conflict settlement, self-determination right – in other to preserve their value – should be equally applicable for both the powerful and less powerful, those in and out of the club, or else they are not principles, stressed Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki, head of Macedonia’s delegation at the NATO Summit in Cardiff during the session of contributor-states to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan.

- Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki on Thursday within the frames of the NATO Summit in Cardiff will take part in the session dedicated to the Alliance’s engagement in Afghanistan. Minister Poposki, in Cardiff, will present Macedonia’s opinions in terms of the delayed membership since 2008 and the efforts that are invested in its realization.

Is it possible for Macedonia, following the March agreement, to get a new September or October agreement that would solve the political crisis due to the absence of the opposition in the Parliament? Or, as another meteor in the extraordinary political atmosphere, the messages of Angela Merkel “that the obligation of the government is to create conditions for including the opposition in the parliament where it should play its role and the opposition’s obligation is to show preparedness to do so” will burn, “Utrinski vesnik” analyzes. According to experts, the signal from Berlin is clear. This is, as they say, a milder pressure wrapped up in diplomatic vocabulary – the two sides to sit down at the same table and try to overcome the differences right in the period which is critical, before receiving the report of the European Commission. The political crisis, they assess, is becoming more complex and dramatic because the opposition gets firmer when its refusal to return to the Parliament is discussed but also because PDSH is seriously thinking about leaving the Parliament. Currently, there are only four MPs from the opposition who failed to respect the party’s decision for boycott. According to experts, the thing that is becoming a symbol of this time is the need for dialogue. They add that this is expected to be noted in the European Commission report.    

- Latvia remains to be a strong supporter of Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations, said Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki after meeting his Latvian counterpart Edgars Rinkēvičs in Ohrid. Latvia is going to chair the European Union in the first half of next year, which is a very important period for Macedonia. Minister Rinkēvičs also met President Gjorge Ivanov and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

The summer vacation for the Macedonian MPs has ended. The parliamentary committees will begin debating Monday the seven draft amendments to the Macedonian Constitution that the Government provided a couple of months ago and the draft budget rebalance.

If the draft amendments to the Constitution are given a go-ahead by at least 62 parliamentarians at the plenary session Wednesday, a 30-day public debate will follow whereupon the Government will have to incorporate the remarks arising from the debate and resubmit the amendments to Parliament. The procedure of modifying the Constitution is expected to be over by the end of October.

Over 5,000 teams will be in constant communication with every family in the country, while a central system of commissions will be formed to mirror the government ministries, follow everything they do and offer better solutions, measures and activities. The same concept will be applied at both the central and the local level. These are only parts of SDSM’s extensive strategy for non-parliamentary action which, according to leader Zaev, relies on four pillars and whose realization will begin right away, Utrinski vesnik reports.

Zaev informed at the press conference Thursday that the first pillar was named “We Are Working Together” and implied listening to the citizens about their needs and problems and jointly defining real and acceptable solutions. The second pillar is entitled “An Honorable Offer” and consists of uncovering new corruption affairs in top government ranks and keen observations of how every institution works. The remaining two pillars of SDSM’s new strategy are “Strong SDSM” and Partnerships for Democratic Macedonia”.

Experts welcome the initiative of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU) for harnessing all the resources in developing a strategy on Macedonia’s future development voiced at the roundtable “Prospects of Development of the Republic of Macedonia in the Post-Crisis Period” held in Ohrid on Tuesday. Although the initiative comes more than two decades of Macedonia’s independence, they do not see it as belated yet are fully aware that its realization largely depends on the Government’s will, Utrinski vesnik reports.

Former ambassador Dimitar Mircev says he strongly supports MANU’s initiative for drafting a strategic platform for development.

“There have been two or three similar endeavors so far but they all failed. Such an idea existed at the time of the expert government of late Prime Minister Nikola Kljusev and a few years later he formed the Center for Strategic Development at MANU. However, I don’t know the reasons why this center, which was meant to serve this purpose, has never been put to effect,” Mircev says.

The Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU) organized a roundtable entitled “Prospects of Development of the Republic of Macedonia in the Post-Crisis Period” in Ohrid on Tuesday, at which stress was laid on the need of developing a strategy that would offer a vision of how Macedonia should look like in 10, 15 or 20 years and that would be drafted in cooperation with all scientific institutions in the country. This, however, the academicians added, is hard to achieve considering that only 0.2 percent of GDP is spent on science.

The academies of Bulgaria and Montenegro have already drafted visions of their countries entitled “Bulgaria 2030” and “Montenegro in the Era of Competitiveness” respectively. Macedonia, too, should develop a strategy for its overall development that would encompass all areas. The last time MANU developed an economic strategy was in 2000, Vlado Kambovski, President of the Macedonian Academy, said.

In Kambovski’s view, the numerous terms that are constantly used to describe various states in the country should be closely defined.

A lot of things in terms of whether and how the political crisis in Macedonia could be resolved will become much clearer as of next week when the summer vacation of Macedonia’s top political figures comes to an end, Utrinski vesnik reports.

While waiting for the autumn, which is frequently regarded as a key period for political breaks and major events, various are the forecasts of the political analysts as to how the situation in the Macedonian political arena may further unfold. Will there be a political deal whereupon the opposition will return to Parliament or will the resignations of the opposition MPs be verified which would raise a new dilemma of how to fill the vacated seats?

However, whatever the outcome, hardly anyone believes that the political situation could suspend the EC recommendation for letting Macedonia open EU membership negotiations even though it is quite on the cards that the knotty political dialogue and the parliamentary crisis will be taken note of in this year’s EC report on Macedonia’s progress.

Forty participants and 20 lecturers from Macedonia, Europe, the USA, Canada and China will be part of this year’s School for Young Leaders that will be held for the fifth time in Ohrid from 19 to 28 August at Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov’s initiative.

“Via the School for Young Leaders we invest in the knowledge of every young participant in the school yet our ultimate goal is developing team and leadership spirit. A team wins because of the concentration of knowledge, energy and motivation in it and because it is comprised of members of different backgrounds and talents. We want to invest in leaders separately yet it is just as important that we work on their team spirit,” says project coordinator Gordica Karanfilovska.

The lecturers in this year’s School for Young Leaders include former Serbian President Boris Tadic, Canadian Senator Don Meredith, the Vice President of the Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corporation, Xiao Ming, the founder of P World, Kosta Petrov, Imperial Prince and Archduke of Austria Karl von Habsburg, the Director for Account Service at Russell Public of the USA, Jason Miko, the former private secretary of Princess Diana, Patrick Jephson, former US President Ronald Regan’s assistant Mary Jo Jacobi, the director of Multimode Group, Tafsir Mohammed Awal, and law professional  Muhamed Mesic from Bosnia and Herzegovina, known for the fact that he speaks over 70 languages.

Greece has never responded to any of the notes of protest that Macedonia have so far filed in protest against incidents happening either on the Greek-Macedonian border or on the territory of Greece in which Macedonian citizens were involved.

On the occasion of the latest incident with the video showing Greek soldiers in Cyprus calling insulting cadences about Macedonians, Albanians and Turks and how they would “suck their blood”, the Head of the Greek Liaison Office in Skopje, Theocharis Lalakos, was summoned to the Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday afternoon to be handed a note of protest. The Macedonian authorities, however, do not expect a Greek response, Dnevnik reports.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs demands of the Greek authorities to take immediate action to condemn these incidents which are not in the spirit of the European values and standards and to make sure such uncivilized acts do not happen again. Mr. Lalakos was also handed a note of protest concerning the practice of the Greek authorities to put stickers on the Macedonian cars in regard to the use of the MK code on the Macedonian license plates.

“We are aware that the next wave of enlargement will not be in two weeks, but somewhere around 2020 and Macedonia will use this period to solve the border problems, structural reforms and for use of the European funds for investing in the infrastructure,” Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki told daily Vest.

Commenting on the initiative of official Berlin to gather the leaders of the Western Balkan countries at the same table, under the auspices of Angela Merkel, Poposki said: “this confirms that Germany has not forgotten about the six Balkan countries that want to join the EU and we appreciate her interest to help us.”

- Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski invited Prince Williams and the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, to visit Macedonia. At the manifestation in Liege, Belgium, which marked 100 years since the beginning of World War I, the Macedonian PM and members of the British royal family discussed our country. At the sidelines of the event, Gruevski held talks with the outgoing President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, German President Joachim Gauck and Belgian Defense Minister Pieter Di Crem.

- The American Institute on Political and Economic Systems chose President Gjorge Ivanov for recipient of the Freedom Award. The award is being presented every year since 1995 to renowned leaders from Eastern and Central Europe and Ivanov will receive it at the Charles University in Prague.

- The presence of Macedonian soldiers in Afghanistan is of key importance for the United States, assesses Ray Mabus, Secretary of the US Navy, following the meeting with Defense Minister Zoran Jolevski in Skopje at which the importance of the good cooperation between Macedonia and the US was emphasized. Mabus met Sunday with PM Nikola Gruevski and President Gjorge Ivanov.

Interview with Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov for Dnevnik

The keener interest of the international community, including mediator Nimetz and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in the name dispute should be used for putting more pressure on Greece, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov told Dnevnik.

Through this interview he also sends a message to Bulgaria: if you want us to jointly celebrate Ilinden 1903, we should also celebrate Ilinden 1944 together. He openly speaks about his relations with BDI in the light of BDI's refusal to recognize his legitimacy as a head of state and reveals that Zaev turned down his invitations for meetings for the sake of resuming the political dialogue.

Six persons who participated in the violent protests in Skopje on 4 July staged against the verdict reached in the Monster murder case were each sentenced to three years in prison. The prosecution dropped the charges for one of the defendants and the court released another for lack of evidence.

The convicted six will remain in detention until the verdict becomes effective. They will also have to pay 26,000 euros for the damage done to the court buildings.  

During the violent protests at Bit Pazar, 20 police officers were injured, four of whom sustained severe injuries, while the damage done to the stoned buildings of the Court of General Jurisdiction in Skopje stands at about 1.6 million denars.

The talks conducted under UN auspices are about the name of the country. The UN does not negotiate the identity of peoples, said UN-assigned name dispute negotiator Matthew NImetz in Skopje on Tuesday.

"Peoples have their own identities and they are not negotiable. People create their identities through their achievements and culture. This country has its own identity," Mr. Nimetz said when asked whether the identity is an issue being discussed as German Chancellor Angela Merkel had earlier suggested.

The name dispute can be resolved provided that both parties are constructive and stick to the framework within which talks are conducted – the Resolutions of the UN Security Council, the Interim Accord and the Judgment of the International Court of Justice in the Hague, said Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov at his meeting with UN-assigned name dispute mediator Matthew Nimetz in Skopje on Tuesday.

"As always, the Republic of Macedonia will continue to take an active part in the name issue talks constructively and in good faith for the purpose of seeking out a mutually acceptable solution to the name issue," President Ivanov said.

At his meeting with mediator Niemtz, which was also attended by negotiator Vasko Naumovski and Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki, President Ivanov stressed Macedonia's readiness for holding meetings at the highest level and for intensifying the dialogue.

- The EU enlargement process, as one of the main priorities of the Italian presidency, in context to Italy’s support of the start of Macedonia’s EU negotiations, is expected to be in the focus of the talks with Italian Minister Federica Mogherini who will pay an official visit to Macedonia Friday.

- The Stabilisation and Association Council between Macedonia and the EU (SA Council) held its eleventh meeting on Wednesday, chaired by Senator Benedetto Della Vedova, Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Italy, on behalf of High representative Catherine Ashton. The Macedonian delegation was led by foreign minister Nikola Poposki and included Deputy PM for European Affairs Fatmir Besimi. The SA Council recalled that the Stabilization and Association Agreement remains at the core of the relationship between the EU and Macedonia until the country’s accession to the EU.