The Committee on Rules of Procedures and Mandatory-Immunity Issues has suggested that Parliament should remove the parliamentary immunity of six VMRO-DPMNE MPs upon a detention decision by a Skopje court over their involvement in the violent events on 27 April 2017 in Parliament's building. These MPs inlcude Krsto Mukoski, Johan Tarculovski, Zaklina Pesevska, Ljuben Arnaudovski, Ljupco Dimovski and Saso Vasilevski. MPs of the opposition coalition led by VMRO-DPMNE didn't attend the committee's session on Thursday T…
The Czech Republic will keep sending policemen to Macedonia to help the country to guard its border with Greece, First Deputy Interior Minister Jiri Novacek said after a meeting with Macedonian Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski. The cooperation between the ministries of both countries has been intensified since the migrant crisis in 2015, Novacek said, pointing out that the Czech Republic has been granting expert assistance to Macedonia on various security matters. The Czech Republic, he added, highly appreciates Macedonia's effo…
The 19th edition of Taksirat Festival kicks off Nov. 30 and runs until Dec. 9 in the Youth Cultural Centre featuring events with participation of over 60 artists. The festival is held in partnership with Desonanz Festival. Katarina Evgo, representative of Password Production, who is the organiser of Taksirat, noted that the guests of the festival are music artists from many countries in Europe including numerous representatives from the Macedonian scene. PIN conference, which begins Thursday, offers room for discussions of notable…
More than 350 different labels of wine from 40 wineries from the region, Italy, France will be exhibited for tasting at the second Skopje Wine Salon - Vinodonia 2017, which will be held on Dec. 1-2 in Marriott Hotel in Skopje. The wine event is organised by a group of wine consultants, judges and educators under the auspices of the Association of Sommeliers of the Republic of Macedonia. This year’s programme is versatile and includes master classes of the wineries Chateau Kamnik, Tikves and Stobi, as well as workshops, wine tastin…
36 people are suspected of 'terrorist endangerment of the constitutional order and security' in connection to the events of 27 April 2017 in Parliament, the Public Prosecutor's Office says Tuesday. "The basic public prosecutor's office tasked with prosecuting organized crime and corruption after concluding all actions to establish facts in relation to the events that had taken place on 27 April 2017 in the Parliament of Macedonia has completed its pre-trial procedure," it says. According to a press releas…
Hoyt Brian Yee, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs and Eurasian Affairs, as of next year will be the new US Ambassador to Macedonia, Al Jazeera Balkans (AJB) correspondent reports, citing sources of the US Department of State. Hoyt Brian Yee will replace the current US ambassador Jess Baily, who was in that position from December 2014. Hoyt Yee is an experienced diplomat and expert for the Balkans who started his career in the 1990s along with the so-called “bulldozer diplomat" Richard Holbrooke. The …
An exhibition depicting the hardship of refugees from warn-torn countries experienced in the past two years on their journeys from Turkey and Africa to Balkan countries and to Central and North Europe opens Monday in Skopje. The experiential and interactive exhibit, running until November 29, is part of the project Small Room of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and NGO Legis. The project aims at raising public awareness about the issue facing refugees with an emphasis on several aspects of the crisis, namely the scale of th…
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has taken a step towards possible eventual recognition of Macedonia’s Orthodox Church, a rapprochement that echoes a warming of relations between the governments of the two Balkan neighbors, Reuters reported. However, the move is unlikely to be welcomed by other Orthodox Churches such as those of Serbia and Greece, in a region where religious identity is often closely tied up with nationalist passions and politics. The Macedonian Orthodox Church was formed when the country was part of communist Yugosl…
We will enter negotiations with Greece with good faith and without fear, in an effort to overcome our differences, said Macedonian Foreign Minister, Nikola Dimitrov in Sunday’s interview with “Radio Free Europe”. “If there is a defeated side it will not be good for the winner or for the loser, because terrible nationalism will develop. We need to find a way where both sides can come out with the feeling that they have protected what is most important. We will not negotiate with fear and we can not come out of this with a solution that…
The Friedrich Ebert Foundation Office in Skopje organizes Saturday evening a fashion show within the campaign '16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence'. Common women, admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, noble qualities, will showcase fashion designs and promote measures against women, family violence. Judge Lence Ristovska, Helsinki Committee Executive Uranija Pirovska and UN Resident Representative to Macedonia Louisa Vinton will deliver speeches at the event.
A new daily, named 'Nezavisen Vesnik' (Independent Newspaper), will be launched Monday in Macedonia. At the beginning the daily will be distributed across the country via its own colporteur network. The Greek Media Group Independent Balkan News Agency - IBNA is the owner, who started also in Albanie a newpaper. The daily offers news on politics, economy, culture, welfare, sports, show business. It will also present analyses, personal opinions and columns of prominent and fresh public figures. 'The editorial policy of t…
In a shock to many, the Macedonian Constitutional Court nullified previous convictions of terrorists involved in the brutal murder of five Macedonian teenagers at the shores of Smilkovo lake. The special prosecution team (SPO) had stated they were unhappy with the convictions very early on during their mandate, even though their mandate itself was formed to investigate the alleged wiretapping scandal. Six people were issued life-term sentences, however four of them were protected at the US Base of Bondsteel where they remained det…
The Supreme Court has abolished the verdicts for the “Monster” case and returned the case for a retrial. The court ruled that it accepts the appeals of the defendants for the multiple murders at Smiljkovsko Lake, which occurred on April 12th, 2012. With the verdict from the highest court in the country, rulings from the Criminal and Appellate Court of Skopje have been terminated, where six people were sentenced to life imprisonment and now the case has been returned for a retrial. The decision of the Supreme Court comes after publ…
The new Ukrainian and Indian Ambassadors to Macedonia, Natalia Zadorozhnyuk and Pooja Kapur respectively, presented Friday their credentials to President Gjorge Ivanov. At the meeting with Ukraine's Ambassador, Ivanov commended the friendly relations between the two countries and their readiness for advancing the cooperation in the spheres of mutual interest, the President's Office said in a press release. The bilateral relations are based on trust, mutual understanding and support, Zadorozhnyuk said, voicing belief in t…
The Macedonian Film Agency announced a new call for production support for feature films, documentaries, short films and animated films. The new call which was announced on 22 November 2017 follows the cancellation of the previous call two weeks ago. Producers can apply by 7 December 2017. The previous call, which was announced in February 2017 by the previous director of the Agency Mimi Gjorgoska-Ilievska, was annulled by the current acting director Gorjan Tozija. In the introductory note of the new call it is stated that “d…
With the political crisis of the past two years in Macedonia now resolved, the new government should accelerate economic reforms and focus on areas such as improved fiscal management and measures to enhance social inclusion, the EBRD said. "In light of the limited fiscal space, the government should revise legislation on concessions and public-private partnerships (PPPs), to encourage private sector involvement in the transport and energy sectors," EBRD said in its Transition Report 2017-2018 published on Wednesday, noting t…
Bulgaria and Macedonia plan to seek international financing for sections of Corridor 8 road and railway project on their territories, Bulgarian public radio broadcaster BNR reported on Thursday. Pan-European transport Corridor 8 stretches from Albania's Adriatic port of Durres to Varna, on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, via Macedonia. Macedonian prime minister Zoran Zaev will visit Sofia on December 6-7 for a meeting of Western Balkan leaders with representatives of international financial institutions, at which funding opportun…
Macedonia's football team has advanced nine spots in a latest ranking. The national team is ranked 76th in the latest, November ranking by FIFA, moving nine spots up compared to October. The jump of the Macedonian team comes as a result of its victory over Norway at a friendly match in Skopje (2:0). There were no changes to the top five as Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina and Belgium retained their positions. Spain moved up two spots to No. 6, followed by Poland, Switzerland, France and Chile.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday that the formation of the new government is a turning point for the Macedonian economy, and underscored this as an opportunity to rebuild policy space and revive reforms. Macedonia needs stronger fiscal consolidation due to rapid rise in public debt and high gross financing needs. On the fiscal front, the overall deficit narrowed to 2.6% in 2016, with the improvement largely due to under-execution of capital investment, spending constraints imposed during the pre-election period,…
The governments of Macedonia and Bulgaria have given green light to a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications of Bulgaria and the Macedonian Ministry of Information Society and Administration on cutting international roaming tariffs, the press services of the countries' governments said in a statement Wednesday. The memorandum is slated to be signed on Thursday in Strumica as part of a joint session of the governments of Macedonia and Bulgaria. Under the memorand…
An earthquake measuring 3 degrees in magnitude according to the European Macroseismic Scale was felt Tuesday in Veles and its surroundings. The earthquake was registered at 7:53 am with 2.5 degrees of magnitude in the Richter scale, originating from the Veles epicenter region. The epicenter of the earthquake is located 40 km southeast of Skopje, Seismological Observatory within the Faculty of Natural Science and Mathematics in Skopje informs.
The chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on European Affairs, Artan Grubi, postponed tomorrow’s committee session, where they were meant to discuss the draft law on the use of languages at the second reading, said the Commission. The statement did not explain the reason for the cancellation of the session, which was due to take place on November 22nd – the Day of the Albanian Alphabet. As for the date when the session will be held, it will be additionally announced. The postponement of the session comes a day after EU Commiss…
In the frameworks of Skopje Design Week 2017 (SDW) which will be held on Nov. 22-26, the country in focus is Hungary featuring the travelling exhibition “Shaping Hungary: Design in the 21st Century.” The exhibition as well as the manifestation Skopje Design Week titled ‘Sound of Materials’ will open Wednesday evening in the Public Room – center for design and innovation in Skopje. Twenty-five contemporary young industrial designers, inventors and engineers will be presented at the exhibition which as organiser underlined, confirm …
Macedonia is on the right path and has marked positive developments, Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European neighborhood policy and enlargement negotiations said here Monday at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. In a statement, Hahn noted that the European Union (EU) was expecting concrete results in Macedonia's justice system and public administration. "Things are moving in the right direction but the country should keep working on crucial reforms in the spheres of security services, judiciary, p…
Bulgarians have positive opinions towards Macedonia and 51% think that Macedonians are very alike or are identical to Bulgarians, shows the latest research carried out by the Bulgarian Institute for politics dedicated to the relations between Bulgaria and Macedonia. As Bulgarian portal “Dnes” reports, when asked whether there is a Macedonian nation that is different to the Bulgarian, 72% of the people have answered that the Macedonian nation was founded in the 20th century and is very close to the Bulgarian. 64% of the people ques…
The law on languages is a reasonable demand but it is not one of Brussels' priorities in terms of what Macedonia should accomplish on its road to the EU-integration, Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, told Monday a joint press conference with Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. The draft law on languages has entered a parliament procedure, being already adopted in a first reading under informal recommendation of the Venice Commission, but at the moment Macedonia's government shou…
In five years, Macedonia could be left without accountants. So far, 7,197 accountants are registered professionals. Of those, 24% are people under 35 while over 51% of the accountants are over 55 years old, show alarming data of the Economic Chamber of Macedonia (ECM). "Accounting must be improved and raised up, it must be treated as an analytic profession that enables businesses to reach appropriate, management-like decisions," said Aneta Trajkovska, director at the Economic Chamber. According to Lence Papazovska of the…
In the second part of the interview with VMRO-DPMNE president, Nikola Gruevski, you can read about the assessment about when will the pressures, threats and blackmail of the voters end, the role of the opposition in the name dispute, the position of VMRO-DPMNE on the law on bilingualism and what might the adoption of this law "bring". (Part One of the interview HERE ) Do you think that the people succumbed to the pressures, blackmail, threats, bribery in the elections? GRUEVSKI: Some of the people yes. Some no. But enoug…
Heartstone, an Icelandic drama film directed by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, was voted best film of the 16th CineDays Festival of European Cinema that took place on Nov. 9-19 in Skopje. "The coming-of-age film is a heartfelt, deep insight into the problems facing teenagers," the 3-member jury said in its elaboration of the decision to pick Heartsone out of eight movies. György Kristóf for his work on Out (Slovakia-France-Hungary-Czech Republic co-production) won the best director award. Amerika Square, written by Van…
Skopje Alexander the Great Airport has recorded its busiest October to date by handling 172.909 passengers during the month, representing an increase of an impressive 21% on last year. During the first ten months, the airport welcomed 1.582.989 travallers through its doors, an increase of 12.9% on 2016. The passenger difference between its traditionally busier nearby competitor Pristina, with which it has feuded over subsidy and fair competition claims in the past, continues to shorten with only 36.500 passengers setting the…
Even though Pero Antic has been retired from the Macedonian national team, his name appeared in the preliminary roster ahead of the EuroBasket qualifiers. The three-time Euroleague champion is surprised seeing his name among the other players called by head coach Jordanco Davitkov. "I’ve been retired since I was 30!”, Antic told Eurohoops. “They just put my name because they want to… prove something.” Apart from Antic, there are three naturalized players in the squad: Jordan Theodore, Richard Hendrix, and Bo McCalebb. …
Macedonian premiere of film "The Secret Ingredient" by Gjorce Stavreski and the presentation of best film awards will close the 16. European film festival "Cinedays" in Skopje-based cinema "Millennium" on Sunday. The world premiere of "The Secret Ingredient" was held at the recent 58. Thessaloniki International Film Festival, where the film won the audience award in programme "Balkan Survey". "Cinedays" closes with the presentation of the best film awards, selected by a j…
European and Macedonian champions Vardar remained unbeaten in this year's handball champions league after overpowering German champions Rhein-Neckar 30:26 in Skopje on Saturday. Vardar took the lead from the beginning and never looked back. They held a four-goal lead at halftime (17:13) and maintained the advantage in the second half. Vuko Borozan was Vardar's best player with seven goals, followed by Ivan Cupic with 6, while goalkeeper Arpad Sterbik had 10 saves. Rafael Baena was Rhein-Neckar's leading scorer with fiv…
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