Fresh protests against the name agreement will be staged in Athens and Thessaloniki on Sunday, MIA reports. The protests are organized by civil movements not familiar to the public – Movement for national defense and Macedonia-Alexander the Great, and Scientific committee for national issues. “Greece means Macedonia. All Greeks at Syntagma square to defend our […]
The parliament session over a second vote of the law ratifying the name agreement will be scheduled on July 5 or 6, said Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi on Friday. Speaker Xhaferi said that if President Gjorge Ivanov failed to sign the decree for the law’s promulgation for the second time, the same solution would be used for both […]
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias on Thursday claimed he has received hundreds of threats against himself and his family, and challenged judicial authorities for failing to take action, Kathimerini reports. “I have received 800 letters threatening my life and my family. I have received boxes of dirt soaked in blood and bullets. Where is the […]
The fact that a name solution was reached is encouraging, but it is concerning that there is discontent among the people, according to Ban Ki-moon. The former UN chief has expressed hope that the decades-long dispute between the countries will be fully closed as soon as possible, MIA’s Athens correspondent reports citing his statement to […]
49 percent of all registered voters came out to vote in the referendum to change the name to integrate the country into the EU and NATO, of which 90 percent were “in favor” and 10 percent “against”. Theoretically, in the near future, similar news such as this (which is hypothetical), perhaps with slightly different percentages, […]
France and the Netherlands continue to oppose the start of Macedonia’s EU accession talks, fearing the decision could have a negative effect at home. Paris and Amsterdam favor a postponement of the decision until after the European elections in the spring of 2019. However, both France and the Netherlands are aware that Macedonia must be […]
The decision of President Gjorge Ivanov and the refusal to sign decree ratifying the law on name agreement is expected, but does not affect the implementation of the agreement. “Ivanov’s decision was expected, but it does not affect the steps i.e. the implementation phases of the agreement. Greek Government has already sent letters to EU […]
The Parliament has received the decision of President Gjorge Ivanov not to sign the decree for the promulgation of the Law ratifying the Final agreement for the settlement of the differences as described in the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 817 (1193) and 845 (1993), the termination of the Interim Accord of 1995, and the establishment […]
A protest against the Macedonia-Greece name agreement was staged in Thessaloniki on Sunday. Group dubbed “United Macedonians” organized the protest, which ended with minor incidents. Protesters passed through the Macedonian consulate, the United States Embassy and towards the offices of ruling parties SYRIZA and Independent Greeks. There were minor incidents in front of the offices of junior […]
Failure to obtain start date for EU accession talks, would cause disappointment, but also consequences over the implementation of name deal and outcome of the referendum, Deputy PM for European Integration Bujar Osmani said Sunday in the interview with Greek newspaper Realnews. Osmani said that if decision to start accession talks is not adopted at […]
President Gjorge Ivanov and Prime Minister Zoran Zaev entered a mutual “war”. After the adopted agreement was sent from the Parliament to Ivanov, Prime Minister Zaev said that the president should respect the decision of the parliamentary majority because it also represents the majority of citizens. But Ivanov does not give up. In such a […]
Ivo Vajgl, Member of European Parliament (MEP) and Macedonia Rapporteur in the EP, says the EU has sent a message to President Gjorge Ivanov on numerous occasions that Macedonia must look to the future. MEP Vajgl was quizzed by MIA regarding President Ivanov’s stance that he would not sign the bill ratifying the Macedonia-Greece name deal. […]
Macedonia’s Parliament adopted Wednesday the law on ratification of the Final Agreement for the settlement of the differences as described in the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 817 (1993) and 845 (1993), the termination of the Interim Accord of 1995 and the establishment of a strategic partnership. Lawmakers voted 69-0 to ratify the agreement, while […]
The agreement marks the beginning of the end of uncertainty for Macedonia and represents dignified and acceptable solution for both sides, with which the Macedonian identity and language is permanently confirmed, PM Zoran Zaev said Wednesday prior to start of parliament’s session at which name agreement with Greece should be ratified. “We have an agreement […]
President Gjorge Ivanov calls on PM Zoran Zaev to immediately initiate impeachment procedure, highlighting that his position in regard to the name agreement is final and remains unchanged. “I call on Zaev to immediately initiate impeachment procedure i.e. procedure for determining the President of the Republic’s answerability by the same two-thirds majority vote necessary to […]
Submission of a petition to the Constitutional Court for assessing the name dispute with Greece, and boycotting the referendum in order to fail due to the unfulfilled census are the next two steps that Levica plans to make in the upcoming period. This movement, which grew into a party, profiled itself as one of the […]
People gathered Tuesday outside the Parliament’s building in Skopje to protest against ratification of the agreement with Greece on settling the name issue. Some one hundred people protested as the MPs at a session voted in favor of approving the necessity to ratify the name deal in a fast-tracked procedure. Today’s protest was peaceful and […]
A session of the Parliament’s committee on European affairs is scheduled to start at 15:00h in which MPs will be reviewing the draft-law on ratification of the Macedonia-Greece name agreement. The legislative committee’s session is slated for 15:15h. The session shouldn’t take long having in mind that the deal should be only reviewed before the […]
Political analyst Daniel Serwer believes that agreement that Macedonia signed with Greece is not only a major step forward for both countries, but also for entire Balkans, MIA correspondent from Washington reports. Serwer told MIA that if the agreement is passed in both parliaments and if passed on a referendum in Macedonia “it will improve […]
The UK Government has unreservedly welcomed the agreement between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia on the long-standing issue of the latter’s name. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson used his Twitter account to declare his satisfaction at the news of the deal: “Fantastic news that PMs Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras have reached an agreement on the […]
