The Government is planing media campaigns for all crucial initiatives from the program for revival with the aim of educating the public. Each one of these campaigns will cost approximately 400,000 euros. The Government should not impose its ideas on citizens by force, sociologist Petar Atanasov from the Institute for Sociological, Political, and Legal Research stated. Government Spokesman Ivica Bocevski said that, with these campaigns, the Government wants to inform the public about the possibilities.

No matter how big the problems are, they can be resolved if Macedonia and Greece sit and talk together, instead of communicating via the media and the EU and NATO institutions, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said in the eve of the next round of talks on the name in January next year.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, issued the following statement to mark Human Rights Day which is commemorated on 10 December.

As we jointly celebrate today not only Human Rights Day but also launch the year-long campaign leading to the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we have cause to celebrate the accomplishments made, since 1948, on the road to ensuring fundamental freedoms for each one of us.

Macedonia asked Serbia for an explanation for Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic's shameful use of the abbreviation FYROM. But the Macedonian Government does not intend to make a big commotion over this issue because it understands Serbia's nervousness regarding the status of Kosovo.

The Macedonian Interior Ministry issued a sharp denial yesterday to Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic's statement in Brussels that Belgrade assisted the Macedonian police in their operation in the Tetovo village of Brodec.

The Republic of Macedonia will gladly host mediator Matthew Nimetz and his two colleagues - the special representatives of Macedonia and Greece in the name dispute talks - in January next year, Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki told MIA regarding Mr. Nimetz's previous statement that he intended to hold another meeting with the Macedonian and Greek negotiators, Nikola Dimitrov and Adamantios Vassilakis, in Macedonia after the Christmas holidays.

Macedonia accepts the proposal for stepping up of the talks on the name, but it will not back down from the constitutional name and it does not agree with the idea of this issue being resolved by the NATO Summit next year. Dnevnik has learned unofficially that this is the message that the Macedonian state leadership conveyed to U.N. mediator Mathew Nimetz yesterday.

There are no changes with regards to Macedonia’s position on the name issue. This position was confirmed at the meeting of the state leadership this weekend and it will be conveyed to U.N. mediator Mathew Nimetz during his visit to Skopje, the media report.

•Skopje Basic Court 1 sentences Stanislava Cocorovska-Poletan and truck driver Alija Azirovic to 14.5 years imprisonment for smuggling of half ton cocaine valued 100 million euros.

The Board of Directors of Johnson Matthey decided to invest in the technological and development zone Bunardzik in Macedonia, said Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski today.

The Summit of the Central-European Initiative (CEI) is a good opportunity to exchange views and initiatives, as well as hold bilateral meetings with the participants in this gathering, Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said in his assessment of the meeting of the prime ministers of the CEI countries, which ended in Sofia today.

Macedonia is making huge progress with the aim of fulfilling its ambition of becoming a member of NATO, NATO Parliamentary Assembly President Jose Lelo stressed in his address in the Macedonian Parliament, which he started by greeting the parliamentarians in Macedonian.

Lelo, who is a firm supporter of the open-door policy for membership in NATO, stressed that this is a very important moment for Macedonia and the region. Within this context, he stressed the issue of Kosovo and the dilemma of what will happen in this region after 10 December if this province declares independence. He believes that Macedonia could play a very important role with regards to this.

Macedonia will complete the priorities and all other obligations, just like it completed a huge part of the tasks so far, with the aim of receiving an invitation for membership in NATO at the Summit in Bucharest in April next year, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said on Saturday. Gruevski stressed a possible veto by Greece as the only serious factor that could obstruct Macedonia's accession to NATO.

Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski met with Serbian President Boris Tadic in Belgrade yesterday. Crvenkovski's visit to Serbia is part of his activities for holding meetings with the presidents of the countries in this region.

 The summit of the CEFTA member states that took place in Skopje on Wednesday marked the end of Macedonia's presidency over the organization, which moves to Moldavia next year.

"As of today CEFTA 2006 will be applied by all the signatory countries, whereby a new age of implementing regional cooperation begins," said Deputy Prime Minister Zoran Stavreski, after the CEFTA member states adopted a joint declaration for further implementation of the agreement.

The leaders of the big political parties in the country held separate meetings with U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia Gillian Milovanovic. The aim of these meetings was to assess Macedonia's candidature for membership in NATO in light of the internal political confrontations and tensions in the country.

The Government and the opposition expressed support in the Assembly yesterday for the proposal for formation of a national council for EU integration. Opposition party SDSM insists that Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski participate in this special assembly body, which will be led by the opposition and most probably chaired by SDSM leader Radmila Sekerinska.

UN mediator in the name dispute Mathew Nimetz will come to Skopje in two weeks to hear the Macedonian authorities' alternative resolution for those parts of his proposal that were unacceptable to Macedonia, diplomatic sources told Vecer.

Party sources from both the Government and the opposition assert that PDSH is helping Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski exclude NSDP from the government coalition and it is sending signals to LDP and the independent parliamentarians for a possible new parliamentary majority.

The Macedonian police's operation in the Tetovo village of Brodec was successful, U.S. State Department Spokesman Tom Casey said at the regular press briefing in Washington.
"This was a successful and legitimate operation carried out by multiethnic police forces against a group that included a few criminals against whom arrest warrants had been issued. Some of them were escapees from a prison in Kosovo," Casey said.

The Assembly started the debate on the interpellation of Deputy Interior Minister Refet Elmazi yesterday. PDSH parliamentarian Ruzhdi Matoshi assessed that the Government could fall, following ruling coalition partner NSDP's statement that it would vote in support of this interpellation motion.

The lustration will pertain to the period starting from 2 August year 1944 and ending with the day the lustration law is ratified. Most probably this will be the final proposal of Liberal Party leader and parliamentarian Stojan Andov, who proposed the text of the lustration bill.

The parliamentary Inquiry Committee tasked to investigate the events in the Parliament on 25 September adopted the final report at its session yesterday.

Macedonia should continue with the reforms so that it can receive an invitation for membership in NATO in April year 2008, for which it has clear support from the United States, US Ambassador to NATO Victoria Nuland said in Skopje today. Nuland appealed to all political leaders in the country to resolve the remaining open issues, MIA and Makfax report.

The Macedonian police launched an operation at 05:00 this morning aimed at eradicating the criminal groups in the region of the Sar Mountain villages of Brodec, Vejce, and Vesala, the Interior Ministry reported.

 

Macedonia made progress this year, especially in the fight against corruption. But the political conflicts are slowing down the country's progress towards the European Union, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn said at today's press conference on the report of the European Commission.

Change of Macedonia's constitutional name at the insistence of Greece is too high a price for our big priority, membership in NATO. This is absolutely unacceptable for us, even at the cost of NATO, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski stressed in the interview for state news agency MIA.