-    Marija Efremova, Macedonian Ambassador to Great Britain, has been presented with an award for exceptional women’s contribution to diplomacy. She is the first Macedonian diplomat that received in London an award from the specialized magazine Diplomat.

A draft declaration reconfirming Macedonia’s strategic goal of NATO integration was provided in Parliament and to all parliamentary groups Tuesday by VMRO-DPMNE and BDI. Less than a month to the NATO summit in Chicago, the document calls for honoring the NATO principle of open doors and reminds that Macedonia met all conditions to become a NATO member state. The draft declaration also insists on honoring the Judgment of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, on putting the region in the focus of the NATO enlargement and on receiving support from the member states in Chicago for Macedonia’s integration into the Alliance, Dnevnik reports.

According to the draft declaration, Macedonia’s NATO integration should be the principle political commitment of all political parties, social stakeholders and citizens, who have the power to influence with their actions the speed and quality of this process and therefore share a responsibility to contribute to it.

- Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki met Tuesday in New York with UN Secretary General Bank Ki-moon. The meeting was focused on the name issue and the judgment made by The Hague-based International Court of Justice and according to Poposki, the ICJ judgment is a solid basis that can help solve the dispute between Macedonia and Greece. Poposki is also set to meet UN mediator Matthew Nimetz and US congressmen.

Personnel in two-thirds of VMRO-DPMNE’s municipal committees will be replaced in parallel with the dismissal and appointment of 150 new functionaries, Nikola Gruevski, Prime Minister and leader of the governing party, said Sunday. The new wave of changes inside this political party went underway a few weeks ago and, according to Gruevski, those to be replaced will still be active and VMRO-DPMNE will count on them, Dnevnik reports.

“Sometimes, it is necessary to take a step back, draw a line and get ready for the new challenges. These are steps we will be taking inside the party in parallel with the changes on the national level,” the prime minister said.

- On Tuesday, Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki will meet with UN Secretary-General Bank Ki-Moon in New York. According to announcements, Poposki is to inform Bank Ki-Moon that no one takes the judgment made by The Hague-based International Court of Justice into consideration.

-    Albanian President Bamir Topi is paying an official visit to Macedonia. After meeting Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, Topi said every criminal act should pass through all institutional investigations. Topi and Ivanov said the institutions of both countries are ready to cooperate in finding the perpetrators of the murder at Smilkovci as soon a possible. President Ivanov said there were forces, which do not want the region to progress and the situation to improve. He said he expected relevant institutions to do their job and urged the citizens not to fall for speculations, typical in such periods of time. According to Ivanov and Topi, the EU and NATO membership is an irreversible process. Topi expressed full support for Macedonia’s NATO membership.

The Interior Ministry has not yet determined the identity of the murderers of the five fishermen killed near the artificial lake at Smilkovci last Thursday, although speculations appeared Wednesday that the police identified those who committed the crime. Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska said there were certain preliminary leads concerning the perpetrators and their motive, which, however, cannot be disclosed in the interest of the investigation, Dnevnik reports.

“We have certain preliminary information we are working with at the moment. We have certain leads also with regard to the number of the perpetrators but that is also information that we would not share with the public considering that suggesting any numbers may indicate to the perpetrators we are on the right track,” Minister Jankuloska said.

She dismissed all speculations that the murderers or their associates had been caught.

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SDSM and the parliamentary groups of the opposition front started boycotting the parliamentary coordination meetings held with Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski every Monday. The reason for the boycott is the fact that Veljanoski refused to put the draft laws proposed by SDSM on the agenda for debate for the next sitting, Dnevnik reports.

“The public had an opportunity to see that the opposition led by SDSM tried to improve the people’s lives with ideas, initiatives and laws. Unfortunately, all our positive legal suggestions were rejected by VMRO-DPMNE and voted out. Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski went a step further. Motivated by party interests of VMRO-DPMNE, in contravention of the parliamentary practice, he refused to put the laws proposed by the opposition on the agenda for debate for the next sitting,” Igor Ivanovski, coordinator of the parliamentary group of SDSM, explained Tuesday.

He also said they were going to inform the embassies about the unfair attitude of Veljanoski and the government.

 

- Czech PM Petr Necas paid Tuesday an official visit to the Republic of Macedonia and met with PM Nikola Gruevski. Necas confirmed that the Czech Republic supports Macedonia in its Euro-Atlantic integration and wishes to see Macedonia as a member of NATO and the EU as soon as possible. PM Gruevski stressed that the start of a high-level accession dialogue between Macedonia and the EU is a positive step in the right direction. However, it is not and it cannot substitute the launch of membership talks.

The killers of the five fishermen left the site of the artificial lake near the village of Smilkovci in an Opel Omega car, Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska said Monday. According to the latest information from the operative headquarters of the Interior Ministry, searching for the perpetrators of the horrifying homicide, the examination of the car revealed that it was used by the murderers. The police do not have suspects yet, although over a hundred of people have been summoned to interrogation.

In the interest of the investigation, Jankuloska refused to say where exactly the Opel was found yet reiterated that the car was found 10 km of the lake. She denied the information of certain media in Serbia that the car was found at the Blace border crossing and that the killers escaped to Kosovo. Jankuloska appealed to media not to fall for speculations and explained that not all information police had would be revealed in order to protect the investigation.

Nothing will change dramatically or overnight after the summit in Chicago if Macedonia remains outside NATO, say experts that Dnevnik has consulted in the wake of the recently promoted theses that interethnic relations would get strained and that the situation would radicalize and escalate. Is this an objective assessment or pressure for seeking out a solution to the name issue as a prerequisite for joining NATO?

The opposition parties of the Macedonian and the Albanian political blocs have already warned that a failure to resolve the name issue would aggravate interethnic relations.

“Armed” with the judgment of the International Court of Justice, as well as with strong support from Turkey, Macedonia is taking the last diplomatic steps to be at least a small success story at the NATO summit in Chicago, Dnevnik comments.

Macedonian Defense Minister Fatmir Besimi is in Washington at the moment, where he is scheduled to meet US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki is set to fly across the Atlantic in about ten days, too.

The reason for these intense activities, especially in Washington now, according to people close to the situation, is the fact that the atmosphere preceding the summit is not good for Macedonia’s expectations.

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov’s message in Greek Kathimerini that the Hague judgment must not be ignored and his interview in general came in for a variety of reactions from the political parties. SDSM regards the interview as “moralizing,” while representatives of the governing party welcomed his move saying it was a good judgment.

Both parties agree that Macedonian should not be optimistic concerning Chicago considering that, according to the opposition, the country is about to be defeated and, according to VMRO-DPMNE, it is about to experience reality. BDI had no comment Monday about Ivanov’s interview with the influential Greek paper, while PDSH refused to comment on a “statement from a man who means nothing to Albanians.”

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov speaks in his interview with the Greek newspaper Kathimerini about relations between Macedonia and Greece, the name issue, the approaching NATO summit in Chicago, the Judgment of the International Court of Justice, Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic integration, the monuments and the naming of the streets. Entitling the interview “NATO Invitation to Better Relations between Macedonia and Greece,” the Greek paper concludes that there has been some progress in the relations between the two countries and asks Ivanov how he assesses the result of it.

“Although I have a very busy international and regional agenda, it is regretful that despite four extended invitations, we have not yet met. The two countries share the vision of a united and prosperous European family, within the framework of which, it is hard to explain the fact that the presidents of these two neighboring countries have not met for 20 years,” President Ivanov replies.

Enlargement, being the central pillar of NATO, has been left out of the agenda in Chicago, yet this has to be rectified, says the Chief Operating Officer at Blue Star Strategies, Sally Painter, in her analysis for the newspaper of the US Congress The Hill, Vecer reports.

Painter argues that by leaving out countries, such as Macedonia, which met all conditions and continuously contribute to the collective defense of the Alliance, weakens security, stability and prosperity.

Painter also criticizes NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who said that the Hague decision did not change anything and that Macedonia would be admitted to the Alliance after it resolves the name issue, which postpones the process indefinitely, although the Court in the Hague stated clearly that the name issue cannot be used as an excuse to deny Macedonia membership of the North-Atlantic Alliance.

- Five US congressmen who support Macedonia for its NATO membership arrived Thursday to Macedonia and met with President Gjorge Ivanov and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. The goal of the meetings is to make a plan on how Macedonia can lobby for a NATO membership at the Summit in Chicago.
PM Nikola Gruevski extended gratitude for the initiative, thus far supported by 54 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Macedonia to be invited to join NATO at the forthcoming Chicago Summit.

The Albanian diaspora is going to stage protests in a few European centers and cities in the region to express dissatisfaction with the treatment of Albanians in Macedonia. The message from the Albanian diaspora to governing BDI will be to step out of Gruevski’s government, Den reports.

A number of Albanians associations in Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands plan to stage protests. Rallies will also be organized in Pristina and Tirana. The associations of Albanians in the diaspora have been emphasizing for long the discriminatory politics against Albanians in Macedonia. Den has learned from sources in BDI that the main initiators of the protests were activists of the party living and working abroad. A reason for their anger is the fact that in the last parliamentary elections, they failed to become MPs of BDI from the diaspora. They believe the leadership of BDI conceded the parliamentary seat of a representative from Europe to its coalition partner VMRO-DPMNE without a fight. In the last poll, despite expectations that Ismail Wayne, a candidate for an MP of BDI, will be a representative of Europe, Risto Mancev of VMRO-DPMNE polled most votes, which maddened the representatives of the Albanian diaspora, who even threatened to stop sending money to the party. Now they want BDI to follow

Macedonia’s NATO membership without a solution to the name issue is too hot a potato and therefore experts doubt that any member states would push for an issue that is hard to pass. In their view, taking into account the present situation and the statements of high-ranking representatives of many member states, an invitation to Macedonia in Chicago is almost an impossible mission, Dnevnik reports.

All official representatives of the NATO member states, including the USA, say it is futile to expect that at a summit, at which no expansion is planned, an issue, such as Macedonia’s accession to the Alliance, is raised. However, a small room has been left within the item of “other.” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday that the issues to be tabled at the summit include Afghanistan, NATO’s capacities, the rocket defense and the contribution of the partner countries to the ISAF Mission.

“For an issue to fall under ‘other,’ according to the procedures of the Alliance, there is no obstacle because anyone can say what they wish. However, even the ‘other’ issues have to be agreed upon considering nobody wants surprises, especially not at massive gatherings,” Dnevnik’s sources explain.

- Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi, who is paying a two-day official visit to Macedonia, met Monday with Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki and told him that the high pre-accession dialogue between Macedonia and the EU is great progress. Martonyi still stressed that Macedonia is unable to expect a NATO membership without solving the name issue first.

 

- Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki took part Sunday in the second "Friends of Syria" meeting in Istanbul. Poposki underlined the principled position in regards to the Syrian crisis and supported the Kofi Annan’s six-point peace plan.

- President Gjorge Ivanov on Thursday in Skopje urged the NATO members to reexamine their decision for Macedonia’s accession into NATO made in Bucharest in 2008 due to the judgment by The Hague-based International Court of Justice with which a new approach from the member-states is requested. During his address at the US – Adriatic Charter ministerial meeting that was held in Skopje, Ivanov stressed that the correct and responsible conduct of Macedonia were only confirmed with the judgment of the International Court of Justice.

-    A delegation of Macedonian MPs consisting of Antonio Milosoksi and Pavle Sazdov of VMRO-DPMNE, Igor Ivanovski of SDSM, and Deshira Imeri of BDI sent a message to the US public in Washington that 95 percent of Macedonian citizens wish to join NATO and the EU and that this ambition unites all Macedonian citizens. They also appealed to the Alliance to use all mechanisms at its disposal to extend Macedonia an invitation for joining NATO. At the debate at the Woodrow Wilson Institute, representatives of the Greek diaspora asked why at sporting events flags with the sun of Vergina were flown and what the point of the “antiquization” was. Milososki and Ivanovski replied that no one had the exclusive right to history.

The participants in the debate on Euro-Atlantic integration that took place in London Tuesday, organized by the European Council for Foreign Affairs, called for greater flexibility from Macedonia and Greece in the resolution of the name issue.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki took part in the debate as well. He talked about the effort that Macedonia was making as regards the process of Euro-Atlantic integration, the name issue with its southern neighbor and the situation at home. According to Poposki, there are two myths related to Macedonia. The first, dating back to Macedonia’s independence, is that the country has territorial claims which conflicts with the fact about the connections between the citizens of the two countries and the economic cooperation with Greece. The second is related to the integration into the EU and NATO, which, however, is backed by 90 percent of the population. The years-long delay of opening membership negotiations with the EU, according to Poposki, contributed only to diminishing people’s faith.

- Macedonian Ministers have enhanced their diplomatic activity over the past few days in the European capitals and demand support for Macedonia’s NATO membership.  Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki met Monday with British Foreign Secretary William Hague who gave him the support for Macedonia’s European integration. Deputy PM Musa Xhaferi, who met in Brussels with EU Commissioner Stefan Fule, also demanded support. Macedonian Defense Minister Fatmir Besimi and Italian counterpart Italian counterpart Giampaolo Di Paola also discussed about the same issue.

Until Macedonia joins the Alliance with its army, NATO’s doors are open economically, through Macedonia’s businesses. This is made possible through the new concept of the Alliance – DIME (diplomacy, information, military and economy). The concept implies inclusion of Macedonia in NATO’s activities, and not only of its army but also of its diplomacy, information and economy, Nova Makedonija reports.

“This is an excellent opportunity for good earning of the Macedonian companies and good promotion of our country in the eyes of the allied armies but unfortunately we have not yet drafted a government strategy for this. Furthermore, neither in Macedonia nor the region is there a company to study the profit and loss, for example, and all that the NATO armies need where they operate, such as the missions in Afghanistan and Iraq,” explains Metodi Hadzi Janev, professor at the Military Academy.

- A government delegation led by PM Nikola Gruevski on Sunday and Monday pays 25-26 March an official visit to Qatar. PM Gruevski is set to meet with Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and address a business forum in Doha.

The parliamentary group of VMRO-DPMNE is offering a completely new lustration law, proposing that persons that acquired capital in publically owned companies, under the law on transformation of publically owned capital, should be lustrated too.

Under the proposed law, the names of the collaborators will be publically revealed as physical persons will be allowed access to the information collected about them, at their own request, at their close relatives’ request, or at the request of persons authorized by them. The commission for verification of facts will also be authorized to initiate a procedure at the initiative of a third person.

The period of time to which the lustration will refer to is until 2006 or until the law on free access to information of public interest was passed, according to Silvana Boneva from VMRO-PMNE.

-    Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki was reassured at the meeting with Danish Minister for European Affairs Nikolai Wammen that Denmark remained committed to the enlargement of the EU with the countries of the Western Balkans and that Macedonia may count on the support from Denmark in its Euro-Atlantic integration.

 

Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki met Tuesday with German counterpart Guido Westerwelle and discussed the European integration and concluded that the credibility of the EU and NATO enlargement should be maintained. Poposki stressed that Macedonia is prepared for NATO membership and EU negotiations but it is still blocked by Greece.