Macedonia has failed in obtaining a NATO membership invitation at the Bucharest Summit. Alliance leaders agreed at Thursday's North-Atlantic Council meeting that an invitation would be extended once the name issue is resolved.

Greece blocked the invitation for membership for Macedonia yesterday. “The Greek Government is very clear. Until the name issue is resolved, there can be no consensus on accession of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,” NATO Spokesman James Appathurai informed at the press conference late last night.

"Historic decision" for the NATO enlargement with three new countries - Macedonia, Albania and Croatia - will be adopted at the NATO Summit in Bucharest.

"USA strongly support the accession of the three countries to NATO", emphasized U.S. President George W.Bush in his address at the Trans-Atlantic Forum, organised by the German Marshall Fund in US, held within NATO Summit in Bucharest, MIA reports.

Macedonia's state and political leadership concluded following a series of meetings and consultations that UN mediator Matthew Nimetz's last proposal for resolving of the name dispute with Greece over the use of the Republic of Macedonia's constitutional name is final. The definite position on this proposal will be formed at an assembly session on Monday.

Macedonia must not gamble away this opportunity to receive an invitation for membership at the NATO Summit in Bucharest, and it should accept UN mediator Matthew Nimetz’s last proposal “Republic of Macedonia (Skopje)”, with some corrections, Petkovski and Andov assess.

- Republic of Macedonia (Skopje) is name that UN mediator Nimetz presented at talks in New York on Monday. Greece rejected this proposal, while Macedonian state leadership will reveal Macedonia’s position today following Nikola Dimitrov’s return from New York.

 

UN-appointed Macedonia-Greece name talks mediator Matthew Nimetz announced Tuesday that both countries had been given a single proposal for resolution of the 17-year-old dispute. This is a fair, compromise and reasonable solution containing a geographic determinant, he said. Nimetz expects negotiators Dimitrov and Vassilakis to receive a positive response to thisproposal from their governments.

•A new round of talks taking place in New York today regarding Macedonia-Greece name dispute.

The meeting of the mixed Macedonian-Kosovo commission for demarcation of the border has been postponed, government Spokesman Ivica Bocevski informed today. The reason for this postponement is that the Kosovo authorities are still not prepared, A1 cites Makfax. Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Hajredin Kuqi said today, "The Government in Pristina has still not formed its commission for this issue". Spokesman Bocevski stressed, "Macedonia is prepared to start the process for demarcation of the border immediately", A1 reports.

The United States officially took the wheel in the talks on the name dispute. The results are already visible, considering that they succeeded in raising the level of the talks to talks between ministers. A meeting has been scheduled between Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki and Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis for today, in Brussels. The two foreign ministers will have to discuss how the talks on the name will develop in these last 10 days before the NATO Summit in Bucharest. Unlike the talks so far, where UN mediator Matthew Nimetz was the chief mediator, Daniel Fried, U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, will assume this role in Brussels.

Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki is set to meet his Greek counterpart Dora Bakoyannis in Brussels on Friday.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski will invite the SDSM, PDSH, and BDI leaders to consultations today regarding UN mediator Matthew Nimetz's last proposals for the name dispute, government sources informed. Gruevski will also meet this evening with Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski and Macedonia's representative in the talks on the name Nikola Dimitrov.

•President Crvenkovski will not comment on proposals presented by UN mediator Matthew Nimetz at talks in Vienna on Monday until state leadership builds joint position.

•FM Milososki assesses that none of UN mediator Nimetz’s three proposals are acceptable as resolution. This is position that PM Gruevski will present to party leaders at separate meetings.

Instead of supporting the Greek authorities against Macedonia for having published a book about his grandfather, French President Sarkozy should learn more about the great suffering of the Jews in Greece after the First Balkan War and the First World War, Macedonian historians say.

•PM Gruevski: Macedonia has capacity to cope with challenges.     

•Prime Minister Gruevski will meet with President Crvenkovski and leaders of biggest political parties today, at consultations on current political situation.

Prime Minister Gruevski met Thursday with Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis in margins of meeting of European rightist parties in Brussels, at initiative of U.S. Ambassador to NATO Victoria Nuland. Gruevski said after meeting that both sides remained on their positions, but that mere fact that they met was good sign.

 

The U.S. Embassy in Skopje calls on the political leaders in Macedonia in this critical time for the country to focus their energy on joining NATO. Its official announcement says that Macedonia is presented with a golden opportunity to join NATO, which the country deserved following the strenuous and successful reforms and efforts over the past few years. The name issue with Greece remains an obstacle, but the political stability is the crucial element for every NATO candidate country.

The PDSH Central Presidency will adopt a decision tonight to withdraw from the Government, PDSH Chairman Menduh Thaci said today. "We are talking about hours, not days, when PDSH will withdraw from the Government," Thaci said today, following the meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia Gillian Milovanovic. Menduh Thaci is also expected to meet with EU Ambassador to Macedonia Erwan Fouere tonight.

The United States is preparing a new package for resolving of the name dispute that will include the last proposal of UN mediator Matthew Nimetz, Vreme has learned from diplomatic sources. American diplomats are holding intensive talks with the Macedonian and Greek Governments to ensure that the final proposal is acceptable to both sides.

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Victoria Nuland most probably will be the new mediator in the talks on the name dispute between Macedonia and Greece. However, this information has not been confirmed yet, Dnevnik reports. The talks on the name will remain under the auspices of the United Nations and the U.S. ambassador will only assist the process, which UN mediator Mathew Nimetz has led since the start.

The United States is fully taking over the role of mediator in the name dispute between Macedonia and Greece. Vreme has learned that although UN mediator Matthew Nimetz is still the formal mediator in this dispute, American diplomats will also mediate directly between Skopje and Athens. Indirect proof of this is U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Europe Daniel Freed’s surprise visit to Skopje this weekend. Freed notified the Macedonian state leadership that the United States would try to find a resolution for the name dispute that would satisfy both Macedonia and Greece and which will help avoid a crisis in NATO, by the summit in Bucharest in April.

Macedonia achieved great success over the last few months and it can show that it is prepared to start the negotiations for membership in the EU, under the condition that it implements the key reforms and criteria, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn assessed.

Rehn stressed in Skopje that the European Union had never been more committed to the European perspective of the region, whose ultimate objective is accession to the EU. “Year 2008 could be a historic year in the process for accession of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the EU,” Rehn said after the meeting with Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.