Are there any real chances for Macedonia to have early parliamentary elections next year or is this but a wish of the opposition front not likely to come true? This dilemma was imposed by SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski who said at the rally Sunday that he would call for an early election regardless of whether the name issue is resolved. According to unconfirmed information, Crvenkovski’s confidence that there would be an early election next year is a result of an agreement with BDI leader Ali Ahmeti. Both parties deny there is such an agreement yet confirm that at the meetings of the two leaders this issue was tabled too.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki is heading to Brussels Tuesday for a meeting with EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule. The talks will be focused on Macedonia’s EU integration p

Whatever the outcome of the NATO summit in November, opposition SDSM and its leader Branko Crvenkovski are going to call in November for dissolution of the Parliament and an early election so that people can finally decide what Macedonia they want.

At the massive opposition rally outside the Government building on Sunday evening, at which, according to party sources, there were some 50,000 people, SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski said that Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and his clique would be held accountable for the robbery of the people and the country.

 

Macedonian President Gjorgje Ivanov on Thursday in Strasbourg addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and among other things, called on the members of the Parliamentary Assembly to invest their authority and attention for protection of the diversity, identity and dignity of all nations in Europe, including the Macedonian.  Responding to journalist questions, Ivanov stated that the Republic of Macedonia has been spending a lot of its time and energy on explaining the two-decade old name dispute, instead of investing them in the country's perspectives and EU-integration process. According to experts this dispute cannot be solved with short conversations between two dinners and courteous handshakes.

PM Nikola Gruevski on Wednesday had a brief meeting with his Greek counterpart George Papandreou at the sidelines of the Southeast European Cooperation Process, SEECP in Istanbul.

According to Papandreou, “he and Nikola instigated initiatives and new efforts to solve this very important issue under the auspice of the UN”.

Gruevski after the meeting stated that the meeting was constructive and that Greece has finally understood that there is will for a solution to the name row in Macedonia.

French MEP Joseph Daul appealed to the European Council to set Macedonia a date for starting talks as soon as possible. Following his meetings with President Ivanov and Prime Minister Gruevski in Skopje, Daul said he would demand this also from the President of the European Council Herman van Rompuy because Macedonia had been working hard to overcome the name issue.

The name issue between Greece and Macedonia is unworthy but its resolution requires negotiation instead of waiting for external solution. That solution will have to be accepted also by the citizens of both countries, said Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who is paying his first official visit to Macedonia.

On Monday, Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki in the Council of Europe responded to a series of questions posed by MEPs connected to the internal relations in the country. Most questions referred to the dispute with Greece and the interethnic relations.

Macedonia and Russia are going to strengthen their energy cooperation and Macedonia will be included in the so-called South Stream gas pipeline. After signing the clearing debt settlement agreement with Russia on Saturday, Russian Gazprom is expected to start building a branch connecting Macedonia to the gas pipeline South Stream over the next few months.

After meeting his Macedonian counterpart Gjorge Ivanov, Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev said that Macedonia and Russia should enhance their energy cooperation. Macedonian President Ivanov said that the entrance of Lukoil and Gazprom into Macedonia puts an end to Macedonia’s energy insecurity, considering that Macedonia has not been on any energy map so far.

The settlement of the name dispute and resuming the reforms are the key for Macedonia’s accession into NATO, stated NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Skopje at Friday’s joint press-conference with PM Nikola Gruevski. PM Gruevski stressed that the NATO membership remains one of Macedonia's biggest priorities, expressed through the great support given by citizens and with Macedonia’s participation in NATO’s missions. “We continue seeking for a name solution. From out part, maximum efforts have been made and this is expected from the other side as well. Until then, Macedonia remains a stabile partner of NATO,” said Macedonian PM Nikola Gruevski.

- Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski met Thursday with his Greek counterpart George Papandreou. The two officials made no statements afterwards. Greek Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas said the countries were close to resolving the dispute. Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki said this could be tactical diplomacy through which Athens is buying time.

The European Security and Defense Assembly of the Western European Union (WEU) has adopted a resolution for EU integration of Western Balkans' countries, urging the EU Council to set Macedonia a date for start of accession negotiations, as well as acceleration of negotiations with Greece over a mutually acceptable solution to the name dispute. Italian MEP Piero Fassino, resolution proponent stressed that Macedonia met all conditions for start of accession talks and therefore the negotiations for a mutually acceptable solution on the name can be held in parallel with the country's EU accession talks.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is going to meet EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule in Brussels on Thursday. He may also meet Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou. Alan Lamassoure, former French Minister for European Affairs, said that the resolution of the name issue was in the interest of both countries but unfortunately there was no miraculous solution.

Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki stated Wednesday that Macedonia’s Government in Brussels carries the message that it does not give up on the European future but it expects respect of the Interim Accord the name not to be an obstacle for the EU membership. 

If Macedonia had obtained a date for accession negotiations, this would have had a positive effect on the atmosphere in the context of relations with Greece, but also in the context of EU enlargement and Macedonia's motivation to invest increased efforts for settlement of the long-standing bilateral dispute, said Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki regarding the outcome of Tuesday's meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Luxembourg.

Foreign Minister Milososki regrets that the EU once again did not gather strength to put aside the bilateral disputes that are misused in regional or global context. According to Milososki, Macedonia is faced with unreasonable pressure to give up the natural and fundamental right to choose its name, but it is practically impossible to reach a solution, which would contain only the position of one side, under pressure, said Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki.

 

VMRO-DPMNE stays strongly focused on the process of finding a solution to the name issue because Macedonia needs it to progress faster. However, VMRO-DPMNE has no intention of trading the interests of its people and country with anyone and for anything. All those hoping to gain something by way of blackmail, pressure or threat should know they are wasting their time, said VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski at the celebration of the 20th anniversary of VMRO-DPMNE in the center of Skopje Tuesday.

“They have been putting various pressures for three years and over the past 4-5 months we have gone through the fiercest pressures to accept things that are unacceptable, but not only has this yielded no results, but also a lot of time has been wasted,” the prime minister said adding that the party had been severely attacked with the threat that it would be ousted from power.

Macedonia is not in the conclusions of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the European Union. No minister of foreign affairs mentioned the country in the official part of the meeting, television Kanal 5 reports.

- Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki takes part at the meeting of foreign ministers of Central European Initiative (CEI) member states in Budva, Montenegro.

Greece should demonstrate solidarity with Macedonia in Luxembourg today like the solidarity Athens received from the EU in dealing with its financial crisis and the EU member states should demonstrate resolve and responsibility and set Macedonia a date for opening accession talks, says the letter of ten MEPs sent to the Council of Ministers of the EU, the foreign ministers of the EU member states and EU High Representative Catherine Ashton.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki believes that at the Summit of the EU in Luxembourg, the members of the Union will know how to take the best decision with regard to the setting of a date for opening accession talks between Macedonia and the EU. He expects Greece to make more effort to become aware of the true interests of the EU and realize that the talks with Macedonia are going to benefit both Greece and the whole Balkans.

The name issue is one of the topics that Serbian President Boris Tadic was scheduled to discuss with his Macedonian counterpart Gjorge Ivanov in Skopje Wednesday, only a few days after tabling the same issue with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and President Carolos Papoulias in Athens, Vreme reports. Therefore President Tadic’s visit to Skopje was immediately interpreted in the political circles as his attempt to impose himself as a mediator between Macedonia and Greece. This possibility was announced by Tadic himself in January this year when he said that Serbia wished to be part of the resolution of the dispute and offered a kind of mediation to which Macedonian President Ivanov replied that any help was welcomed.

Disbelief and despair could be seen on the faces of over a hundred Macedonians upon hearing the final verdict of Hague Tribunal judge Patrick Robinson confirming Johan Tarculovski’s sentence to 12 years in prison at the same time acquitting Ljube Boskoski of the indictment for the Ljuboten case. The court session that took 27 minutes started at the building of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague at about 9.30 Wednesday. Judge Robinson refused all seven counts of Tarculovski’s defense and the appeal of the prosecution regarding Ljube Boskoski’s release verdict, Nova Makedonija reports.

Macedonia’s pre-accession economic program for 2010-2012 that Deputy PM Zoran Stavreski presented before the EU Finance Ministers in Brussels on Tuesday has been assessed as positive. The Finance Ministers of the EU member states assessed that Macedonia has successfully handled the world economic crisis and achieved good results with the GDP and the current account of the balance of payments.

Prime Ministers of Macedonia and Greece, Nikola Gruevski and George Papandreou, had an informal meeting at the sidelines of the Summit EU-Latin America in Madrid, Tuesday. Both prime ministers discussed about the name issue, the situation in both countries - the economic crisis in Greece and the problems which Macedonia is facing and whether they could present an obstacle when solving the bilateral dispute. As the PM Gruevski’s cabinet informs, the meeting was spontaneous and cordial and both prime ministers expressed hope and will the name issue to be solved as soon as possible. Both sides expressed dedication to the negotiations and openness for further direct meetings and closing the issue with UN’s help. The region’s perspectives and the need for the region’s EU integration were also discussed.

“We are doing all we can in every regard and will continue the reforms,” PM Nikola Gruevski rep-lied to a reporter’s question as to what he thought of EU Ambassador Fouere’s statement that Macedonia regressed on its way to the EU and it was uncertain where the country was heading for. Asked what he thought of Ahmeti’s and Crvenkovski’s statements that the name is-sue was threatening the country in the long run, Gruevski said, “we are working in the short run to solve the name issue, do all we can and put maximum effort, but of course we are protecting Macedonia’s state and national interests.”

Macedonia is expected to receive some 450 million euros from EBRD for a package of projects in the areas of road infrastructure, railway and energy. This was said at the meetings that Deputy Prime Minister Zoran Stavreski had in Zagreb with representatives of EBRD.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski had a meeting late Thursday in Zagreb with US Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon. According to PM’s Cabinet, Gruevski and Gordon discussed the European integration of Macedonia and the region and both of them condemned each extremist incident. Prime Minister Gruevski expressed focus for consistent implementation of the Ohrid Agreement as well as dedication in reaching a solution to the name issue.

 

Just as you are Greek and Carl Bildt is Swedish, I am Macedonian and that is my basic human right and this Council is the home of human rights, Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki replied to Greek Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droustas Tuesday.
 
Droutsas had previously demanded at the meeting of the Council of Europe, chaired by Macedonia as of Tuesday (11 May), that “FYROM” be used instead of “Macedonian” in the title “Macedonian Chairmanship 2010”, Makfax reports.

- European MP Johannes Svoboda said in his interview for the Macedonian Television it was time for Macedonia to begin accession talks with the EU. He believes that in the course of the talks there will be plenty of time to solve the name issue with Greece and explained that the EU was in a final stage of talks with Croatia and it was therefore necessary to open talks with the next country, Macedonia. Svoboda believes Greece should appreciate the solidarity of the EU in view of its financial crisis and in return should give Macedonia a chance to start talks. “The European solidarity should not be a one-way street. Following the decision of the EU countries to help, Greece should also help the integration process of the Balkans.”

Macedonia is taking over from Switzerland the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Tuesday and will be handing it over to Turkey in six months’ time. Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki is going to talk about the priorities of the Macedonian Chairmanship 2010.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said in Strasbourg that the Macedonian Chairmanship of the Council of Europe was a possibility to promote the country and improve its image. Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki is going to talk Tuesday about the priorities of theat the Council of Europe.