The Brussels report on Macedonia’s progress that was released last week is riddled with errors. The European Commission criticized Macedonia even concerning matters for which there is ground for criticism. This is the conclusion when making an analysis of the 80 pages that Brussels drafted on Macedonia’s progress. One of numerous errors is to be found in the segment about the protection of intellectual rights, where Brussels wants Macedonia to pass a document which has already been in place for three years, Dnevnik reports.

The EC says that Macedonia should adopt a national strategy and an action plan on intellectual property. However, this document has already been passed and it refers to the period from 2009 to 2012. It can be read in it that the drafting of the strategy is a short-term priority for Macedonia and a condition arising from the Partnership for Accession. The strategy clearly states that in the drafting of the document the authorities had in mind the responsibilities Macedonia undertook with the Stabilization and Association Agreement and the assessment laid out in the report on the country’s progress.

A debate may be opened about the reasons why the census failed at a meeting of the Government on Tuesday if the State Statistical Office and the State Census Commission provide their remarks about the census, Deputy Prime Minister Musa Xhaferi told Dnevnik.

However, while it is certain that the Government is going to analyze the fiasco of the census and try to locate moral and political responsibility for the failure and the wasted 14 million euros, it is quite uncertain whether upon the passing of the law on census termination, criminal responsibility will also be looked for considering the entire material, under the census law, will be destroyed.

- Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, is coming to Skopje Monday and is set to meet President Gjorge Ivanov. The Emir of Qatar is the first king of the Arab paying a visit to Macedonia since its independence. President Ivanov’s Office says that a special accent in the talks will be put on the promotion of the economic relations. The guests from Qatar are said to especially interested in investments in tourism, agriculture, energy, construction and trade. Last year trade between Macedonia and Qatar totaled 572,000 dollars.

The European Commission should be a strong and independent institution rather than avoid mentioning the Macedonian language, which lives in the academic circles, culture and politics, says Paul Foster, a US Professor and an expert on languages and cultures in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, in response to the fact that the adjective “Macedonian” has been left out of the report on Macedonia’s progress released two days ago for the second time.

Brussels showed it yields to the pressure from the Greek diplomats lobbying that the term “Macedonian” is removed from all documents mentioning our country, Dnevnik reports.

- President Gjorge Ivanov sent a letter to European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, in which he voices discontent by the absence of adjective “Macedonian”. Ivanov wrote that this deeply offended the feelings of Macedonian citizens and by this, the European Commission can additionally complicate the already complex nature of the imposed dispute.

- European Commissioner Stefan Fule presented Wednesday the European Commission’s progress report on Macedonia and as it was predicted, The European Commission confirmed for the third year running the recommendation for start of Macedonia's accession negotiations with the European Union but without a set date. The report positively assesses the elections, the political dialogue and the meeting of the political criteria. On the other hand, the Commission underlines that significant efforts must be made to reform the public administration, judiciary, the media freedom.

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov voiced his discontent by the omission of adjective “Macedonian” in the EC Progress report.

PM Nikola Gruevski sent a message to Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule, saying that exerting pressure on Macedonia will not help in settling the name issue.

There are no threats for the stability of the governing coalition between Nikola Gruevski and Ali Ahmeti after the representatives of their parties, VMRO-DPMNE and BDI, to the State Census Commission resigned Tuesday and decided to stop the census because of their misunderstandings over the taking of record of the Albanians emigrants from Western Macedonia. The only victim of the fact that three days before the start of the statistical operation Ahmeti said that the census should be taken by a different methodology, thus blocking the entire process, is the census itself.

As the government cabinet confirmed, a meeting about the census has been scheduled for Wednesday yet government sources say that the resignations of the State Census Commission members will only be accepted at the meeting and it will be concluded that for the time being there are no conditions for a census, which is why the operation needs to be cancelled. The coalition partners have not yet agreed over a new timing or new legal provisions to count the population.

“Macedonian” is stated for the first time as a reply option to the question regarding the citizen’s ethnicity in the census in Hungary being taken on 1-31 October.

“The option ‘Macedonia’ to the question regarding the mother tongue is stated for the first time too. To the question concerning the person’s religion, one of the answer options is also ‘Macedonian Orthodox,’” says Darko Angelov, Macedonian Ambassador to Hungary.

- On 10-19 October, the television channel CNN is going to be airing the show Eye on Macedonia addressing the Skopje 2014 Project, the new Alexander the Great Airport, singer and humanitarian worker Esma Redzepova, the company for special film effects F-X-3 and director Milcho Manchevski. Also, opinions on the education system, the economic problems and the unemployment will be voiced.

Any census officer taking record of a person that has no lived in Macedonia continuously in the past 12 months until the day of the census or taking record based on personal documents that are not originals will have to face justice.

Slobodanka Gievska, president of the State Census Commission rejected Thursday the possibility of extending the census after 15 October, which had been proposed by BDI in order to give Albanians and Macedonians time to resolve all misunderstandings.

- President Gjorge Ivanov met Thursday with President of Romania Traian Basescu. During Ivanov’s visit, two bilateral agreements from the sphere of education, economy and technical cooperation and tourism were signed. Romanian President Basescu stressed that Romania gives unreserved support to Macedonia’s NATO and EU integration.

The report on Macedonia’s progress will reflect reality and our accomplishments considering it takes note only of factual and documented progress, said Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Teuta Arifi. She said she expected the progress to be recognized in Brussels and the recommendation to be repeated, which would be a recognition for the country.

 

Macedonia and Italy have excellent political relations and they are to enhance the economic ties in the future, said Macedonian and Italian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and Silvio Berlusconi at the meeting in Rome, Wednesday. PM Gruevski got assured that Italy sincerely backs Macedonia on its road to the EU and NATO. Gruevski informed his Italian counterpart on the business opportunities in Macedonia.

Incidents between census officers occurred in Struga and Tetovo on Tuesday because ethnic Albanian census officers as well as party members insisted that emigrants that have lived out of the country for more than a year be taken record of and also because photocopies were accepted as relevant documents, the State Census Commission said.

The conflicting interpretation of the two provisions by VMRO-DPMNE and BDI, as well as by the Macedonian and Albanian members of the State Census Commission reflected on the ground with incidents among the combined census teams.

- PM Nikola Gruevski is to pay Wednesday a one day visit to Rome where he will meet with his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi. The two Prime Ministers will discuss about the European integration and bolstering the bilateral economic cooperation.

Macedonia has prepared three scenarios as to what steps it should take depending on the ruling of the International Court of Justice in the Hague to be pronounced on 16 November, Dnevnik has learned.

Our diplomacy in consultation with domestic and foreign experts has been getting ready for a few months now for the steps to be taken once the Court declares its final ruling on Macedonia’s application against Greece following the Greek block on Macedonia’s NATO accession in Bucharest. Three simulations have been made depending on whether Macedonia wins or loses the case and in case there is a balanced verdict.

If Macedonia wins the case against Greece in the Hague, that is to say, the Court rules that Greece violated the Interim Accord, the ensuing political consequence is said to be very strong. If this, for Macedonia most favorable scenario, unfolds on 16 November, Macedonia will most probably turn to the United Nations Security Council notifying it of the verdict and calling for protection from the same kind of violation in the future.

- Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki who is paying a visit to Albania got assured by his Albanian counterpart Edmond Haxhinasto that the Albanian census will be in line with European standards. Minister Poposki voiced belief that efforts will be invested in identifying all Macedonians in Albania, as well as their full participation.

The census activities have been carried out for three days now. The on-site picture is clear. The census teams have the required documents and the first citizens of Macedonia have already been taken record of. The tension that culminated Friday, a day before the census went underway, eased on Saturday at the very beginning of the largest statistical operation in the country, Nova Makedonija reports.

If the previous president of the Census Commission resigned explaining that a census forfeit was being plotted, the new president Slobodanka Gievska expects the census to be carried out successfully. The other state institutions included in the census activities expect the same.

The census-related problems occurred when representatives of the Albanian community asked that those having stayed abroad for more than 12 months be taken record of too provided they returned to Macedonia at least once in the past year. However, representatives of the ethnic Albanian parties say they do not appeal to ethnic Albanians to boycott the census.

 

“The Greek position to the name is not understandable and is unjustified. Macedonia has a natural right to use its constitutional name under which it became an independent country. We have no understanding for any qualifier such as upper, lower or north. We live in a global world in which peace and understanding should rule.”

The well known stance of Turkey regarding the name issue was reiterated once again by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Skopje Thursday. Asked by a reporter how he saw the Greek block of Macedonia’s European integration, the Turkish prime minister said: “You will join the EU before we do. Good luck!”

He added that Turkey had always supported Macedonia’s bid for joining NATO, yet the problem was Greece.

- Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is paying a two-day visit to Macedonia, met Thursday with PM Nikola Gruevski. Erdogan stressed that Macedonia should not doubt Turkey’s support and announced expansion of the Turkish business interest in the country. According to Erdogan, Macedonia has a natural right to use its constitutional name under which it became an independent state and there is no justification for the additions such as upper, lower or northern. Hundreds of Turkish businessmen are part of Erdogan’s delegation and they are to hold a business forum along with their Macedonian colleagues, Friday. 

The census of the population which begins on Saturday shook up the governing coalition after BDI leader Ali Ahmeti said that all ethnic Albanians who had been absent from the country for more than a year but have entered Macedonia at least once in the last year would be taken record of. Senior sources from governing VMRO-DPMNE say that the party is surprised by Ahmeti’s statement especially because he promised that Albanians would not dispute the census as was the case in the past.

“The law is very clear. All those that in the course of one year entered Macedonia at least once, all having property, houses but are not here at the moment will be included in the total number of the population,” Ahmeti said Tuesday.

He also appealed to the political parties not to speculate about the number of Macedonians, Albanians, Turks, Roma, Serbs, etc, and to leave that to the relevant authorities.

- Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to pay Thursday and Friday an official visit to the Republic of Macedonia. Meetings with the Macedonian state leadership are to be held.

Two days before the start of the biggest statistical operation, tension rose again in the State Census Commission. Some representatives of the Albanian and Turkish communities have been questioning for two days now the provision of the census law, according to which, citizens who have lived out of the country for more than 12 months should not be included in the total number of residents.

At the Monday meeting of the Commission which lasted until 2 in the morning, a fierce debate was conducted over whether those who have been away for more than a year should be encompassed by the census or not. Even after a few hours of heated debate, agreement was not reached and a follow-up was scheduled for the following day.

The members of the Commission that disputed the ethnic composition of the census teams a few months ago are now complaining again.

- Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki met Monday with his Turkish counterpart Ahmed Davutoglu in New York. Both FMs positively assessed the high level of general relations between Macedonia and Turkey, as well as the exceptional importance of the coming visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Republic of Macedonia. 

- Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski in his speech delivered before the United Nations in New York stated that the name and the identity issues will not be touched upon and Macedonia will not accept a compromise that could harm the country. The government representatives are satisfied by the meeting with UN General Secretary Bank Ki-moon. Deputy PM for Economic Affairs Vladimir Pesevski stressed that the economic objectives of this visit have been fulfilled. 

The name issue is only formally on a table in New York where world leaders gathered this week to attend the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly. The meeting between Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinidis and his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Poposki went without calling much attention. The two ministers met by accident on the stairs and agreed to meet later again. The meeting that took half an hour was at the request of Greece. The Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs only briefly informed that Poposki met Lambrinidis, while the Greek MFA said nothing about the meeting, Dnevnik reports.

In a situation when the Greek Government is trying the deal with the economic crisis, the name issue with Macedonia slipped off the agenda of Minister Lambrinidis, who used the meetings on East River to persuade his interlocutors that Greece would get out of the tunnel and that is capable of weathering the crisis. In an interview with the television channel CNBC, Lambrinidis says that his country would definitely stay in the Euro-zone and that Greece is not a weak country but had been poorly managed in the recent years. What remains clear after the meetings in New York is that the crisis in Greece is the reason because of which a solution to the long-standing dispute cannot be found soon.

In Brussels, at the debate with an indicative title “Silencing Media” organized by the parliamentary group of the Liberal-Democrats, only those officially announced by the organizer stayed to participate in the discussion. The other group of journalists (Mirka Velinovska, Milenko Nedelkovski and Boban Nonkovik), who had not been reported as participants, were denied the possibility of being part of the debate.

The incident occurred after the moderator, MEP Jelko Kacin, explained how the debate would be taking place – the officially announced will have the chance to address the meeting first and then all those present will have the right to take part in the discussion. Velinovska, Nedelkovski and Nonkovik complained and asked why official participants were largely journalists from a medium that is no longer airing. Following the heated argument with MEPs Jelko Kacin and Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, they were brutally driven out of the room and the debate resumed after a short while only among the officially invited journalists, the present MEPs, and the representatives of the European Commission and the non-governmental sector. Usually all those who are present participate in these types of debates.

“The name issue agreement will be reached when people least expect it,” said Richard Howitt, the new rapporteur on Macedonia at the European Parliament, at a press conference in Skopje, with which he completed his 2-day visit to Macedonia, during which he met top Macedonian officials. He also said Macedonia could be set a date for opening EU membership negotiations provided that the name issue is resolved by then, Utrinski vesnik reports.

“I believe that if a name issue compromise is reached, the European Council could set us a date for opening accession talks in December. I cannot negotiate the name issue. But I would encourage all parties to reach a compromise and an agreement over it,” Mr. Howitt, who presented himself as a friend to Macedonia, said.

Howitt was careful with the words, stressing all the time that he would not discuss the issue in public although he admitted that “private dialogue behind the stage is being conducted.”

- Macedonian PM Nikola Gruevski is to arrive in New York on Wednesday for the UN General Assembly where he will meet with many world officials. Gruevski, on Saturday will address the General Assembly and meet with UN Secretary General Bank Ki-moon. Meanwhile, the Macedonian Government is organizing a business forum in the Harvard club for presentation of Macedonia’s business opportunities before US companies.

Name issue mediator Matthew Nimetz has no intention of visiting Skopje and Athens in near future. He said this at the meeting with Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinidis in New York on Sunday.

According to reports from New York, Lambrinidis and Nimetz discussed the name issue talks and the need for making progress. Lambrinidis is said to have raised the same issue at his meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.