EU: Building border fence between Macedonia and Serbia was not part of agreement
Serbia is constructing a barbed-wire fence at its southern border with Macedonia. Authorities in Belgrade have not yet commented on the issue, but the EU did. Serbia has started erecting a barbed-wire fence at its southern border with Macedonia, with the goal of blocking illegal migrants from entering the country without a visa, according to reports from news agency AFP, local media outlets in Belgrade and Radio Free Europe, as well as Macedonian media reported. Now the EU commented the issue: The European Union has rejected the claims that th…
Albania to open general consulate in Struga
The Council of Ministers of Albania has decided to open a 'Consulate General' in the town of Struga, located in the southwestern region of Macedonia on the shores of the well known Ohrid lake. The decision was announced on Tuesday via a Facebook post. The Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Gent Cakaj called the news “fantastic” for Albania and Albanians.
Tsipras and Zaev receive German 'Peace of Westphalia' Award
The two former heads of government Alexis Tsipras (Greece) and Zoran Zaev (Macedonia) receive the International Peace of Westphalia Award. Ex-Prime Ministers Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev have made a difference in the 'name dispute over Macedonia' over stability in the entire region of the Balkans. This was the reason given on Wednesday by the Economic Society for Westphalia and Lippe (WWL), located in Germany. The WWL awards the prize as a founder every two years. The chairman of the Economic Society for Westphalia and Li…
U16: Macedonia wins two games against Bosnia-Herzegovina
The Macedonian U16 national team had a successful visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina considering the fact that they won both friendly games against the home team.
Macedonians in Albania demand full respect of minority rights
The Macedonian community in Albania issued a list of demands to the Government, through its MAEI party. MAEI held a congress in Korca and declared that it demands the introduction of the Macedonian language as the official language in each municipal unit where the Macedonians amount to at least 10 percent of the population and that Macedonian minority rights should apply across the country, not just in the three south-eastern municipalities where they are most numerous. The party also demands a redrawing of the municipal borders and t…
Hungary rejects extradition of Nikola Gruevski
A court in Hungary refused to extradite the fugitive former prime minister of Macedonia, Nikola Gruevski. According to local macedonian news portal a1on, the verdict was read out on Thursday morning in the presence of Nikola Gruevski, former premier of Macedonia. The hearing was closed to the media, but the decision was publicly announced. Macedonia had requested its former Prime Minister Gruevski’s extradition from Hungary in late 2018, to face justice in his home country. Gruevski, who was sentenced to two years in priso…
Will Macedonia be a strategic investor in bulgarian nuclear project Belene?
The possibility of assuming the role of strategic investor in the construction of the bulgarian Belene nuclear power plant appears to be in the works in Macedonia, following the invitation of Bulgaria, which was published in the Official Journal of the EU, to attract a strategic investor to this project - greek financed media Nezavisen in Skopje reports (part of Greek IBNA - Independent Balkan News Agency). According to the information that has been released, it seems that initially interest had been expressed, and that detailed analy…
My father warned against the danger of having a Macedonian minority in Northern Greece - Mitsotakis
Greek opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that his New Democracy party will work to reduce the damage caused by the Prespa treaty. ND is expected to take over the Greek Government later this year, as polls ahead of the general elections give it a solid lead over the leftist SYRIZA party. Asked about whether his late father, former Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis, who was toppled after he was seen as too lenient on the “Macedonian issue”, would have signed the Prespa treaty, he answered “no”. The reason why the trea…
Greek jets mount NATO practice flights over Macedonia
Macedonia says fighter jets from neighboring Greece have carried out NATO-linked test overflights of its territory as part of the country’s process of joining the alliance. The defense ministry said Tuesday’s two flights tested radar and communications coverage of Macedonia. Macedonia has no fixed-wing military aircraft, and NATO has a program to protect the airspace of members that do not have sufficient means of their own. Macedonia is set to become NATO’s 30th member by the end of this year, after NATO member Greece dropped…
Greek MOFA secret funds financed Macedonian, Albanian media says Greek news portal
Nearly one million euros from the secret funds of the Greek Foreign Ministry has been used to finance media outlets in Macedonia and Albania and as financial support for Orthodox Christian churches, according to reports published by Greece’s iefimerida news portal. The text prompted a reaction from the PM’s office, MIA reports from Athens also citing reports of the Efimerida ton sindakton newspaper that the prosecution has ordered investigation into how and who leaked the confidential information. iefimerida writes that the inform…
Kotsias: There is no solution without the Prespa Agreement
There will not be any other solution without accepting the Prespa Agreement, stated the head of the Greek diplomacy Nikos Kotsias after the meeting of the EU’s Council for Foreign Affairs in Luxembourg and also said that even with a simplified elementary school maths it is not possible to reach a better agreement on each side, “as the hard-lined oppositions in both countries claim.” As MIA’s correspondent from Athens reports, Kotsias has stated that yesterday’s meeting has started with issues related to Macedonia. -I explained tha…
Fourth ministerial meeting in Thessaloniki with Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece and Albania
The foreign Affairs’ ministers of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania and host Greece, at the start of November will hold a new quadrilateral meeting in Thessaloniki. According to the information provided by MIA’s correspondent in Athens, the fourth ministerial meeting during which it is planned a discussion about subjects on regional cooperation in many areas, will be held on the 8th and the 9th of November in Thessaloniki. A first meeting such as this was first organized in April 2016, and the last time the heads of diplomacies have me…
Tsipras-Steinmeier: Prespa Agreement is brave step
Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at their Thursday’s meeting in Athens assessed the Prespa Agreement as courageous and brave step. Steinmeier welcomed the agreement between Macedonia and Greece, expressing regret for the outcome of the referendum, while Tsipras said that the Prespa Agreement is a model of understanding and mutual respect for two nations, MIA reports. “I came here to express my respect for the particularly courageous effort you reach an agreement with FY ROM, with the neighbourin…
Politika: Mickoski is a pantomimist and Ivanov a hero
Under the headline “Referendum Aivar”, the pro-government Serbian daily newspaper “Politika” announced on Tuesday that “instead of humbly admitting that the referendum failed, European, American and NATO officials are claiming victory, with even more intensified political passion.” “The hypocrisy of the Western ruling political elites and the attempt to rewrite the will of the citizens of Macedonia, who did not agree to become northern southerners, revitalized the results of the referendum that was laconically assessed as consultative…
Macedonian soldiers fired warning shots at Macedonia-Greece border
Macedonian soldiers have fired several warning shots in the air at the country's border with Greece to deter a group of migrants from crossing it illegally. According to local media, one migrant was arrested and turned over to the police, while others returned to the territory of Greece. The Macedonian Army said in a press release that the incident happened when one of its patrols detected a group of migrants illegally crossing the border near the regional road Gevgelija-Moin. According to this, the patrol vocally warned …
MoFA confirms the death of two Macedonian citizens in two multi-vehicle crashes in Serbia
The police department in Jagodina, Serbia, informed Macedonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday that two Macedonian citizens were among those killed in two multi-vehicle crashes on a key highway in Serbia. Seven people were killed and 27 others injured in the accident, which involved 34 cars and trucks and probably happened because of the fog, police said. The collisions took place on both sides of the main north-south highway in central Serbia, 110 kilometers southeast of the capital, Belgrade. Serbian state TV said so…
Protest in Greece over name agreement with Macedonia
Hundreds gathered at a protest against the name agreement in the Greek town of Vergina on Monday, MIA reports from Athens. Protesters, including church officials and the governor of Central Macedonia region Apostolos Tzitzikostas, waved Greek flags and shouted "Macedonia is Greek". "If our neighbors are Macedonians, then what are we?" asked Metropolitan Panteleimon in his address before the crowd, saying the name agreement goes against the interest of the Greek people.
Greece’s opposition New Democracy will not vote to ratify name agreement with Macedonia
Greece's opposition New Democracy party will not vote for ratification of name agreement irrespective of what kind of majority will government form, MIA correspondent in Athens reports. Commenting the statement of the leader of the junior partner in Greece's coalition government for asking 180 lawmakers instead of a simple majority of 151 votes for name deal ratification, New Democracy party said “there are no words to describe Panos Kammenos,” who is “the epitome of political self-humiliation.” The statement that the Pres…
Kotzias: I hope Prespa deal sets shining example of how to solve regional problems
During his opening speech at the Rhodes Conference for Security and Stability on Thursday, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said he hoped the Prespa deal would be implemented and set a shining example of how to solve problems in the region, MIA's Athens correspondent reports. FM Kotzias said the Prespa compromise 'showed that no one can drive the other side into a corner.' "We cannot live motivated by revanchism and irredentism. We need to accept reality and find ways of living together," Kotzias said. &q…
Bulgarian Orthodox Church underlines stance on Ohrid Archbishopric
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church held its own celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the founding of the Ohrid Archbishopric on June 10, having turned down an invitation to attend the Macedonian Orthodox Church's celebration on May 27 and 28. On the occasion, which was marked with a liturgy at Sofia's landmark Alexander Nevsky cathedral with the presence of Bulgarian Orthodox Church Patriarch Neofit, the Holy Synod issued a lengthy statement outlining its stance on relations with the church in the neighbouring former Yugoslav…
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