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Ex-PM Nikola Gruevski, who’s in Budapest, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, while former Transport and Communications Minister Mile Janakieski has received a one-year suspended sentence for instigation of the violence in the Municipality of Centar in 2013. On Tuesday, Judge Dusko Josifovski also gave suspended sentences to those responsible for the violence, that is, Aleksandar Trajkovski, Darko ...

Gordana Jankuloska’s lawyer Sanja Aleksic believes that the decision to take her client to prison on Monday wasn’t in line with any legal procedure. Aleksic adds that the police came 10 minutes after the former Interior Minister had received the verdict from the Supreme Court. VMRO-DPMNE points out that the video that has appeared on social media showing Jankuloska in ...

In an interview with Telma TV, VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski says that if an extraordinary congress of the party is held, he wouldn’t run for head of the party. Answering questions about the internal situation facing his party and whether he’s responsible for the election defeat, Mickoski underlines that he already submitted a proposal before the Central Committee for such ...

On the second day of his visit to Brussels, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani held a meeting with Oliver Varhelyi. The EU Enlargement Commissioner said the regular enlargement package and annual reports on Western Balkan countries would soon be presented. Varhelyi announced also that the Union would allocate a significant amount of non-refundable financial assistance and loans for big infrastructure projects ...

The new Head of the EU Delegation, Ambassador David Geer, hopes the first Intergovernmental Conference will be held as soon as possible. In an interview with MIA, he says that it’s now necessary for Member States to agree on the final version of the negotiating framework, which basically opens the door for a start of negotiations. Asked whether Bulgaria’s Memorandum ...

Judge Dobrila Kacarska has been unanimously nominated by the Judicial Council to be part of the Constitutional Court. The nomination will be sent to Parliament. If elected, she will succeed Vladimir Stojanovski once his term expires. VMRO-DPMNE reacted after the Council’s session on Tuesday. “Kacarska convicted Gordana Jankuloska for the Mercedes in which Zaev is driven. She also convicted Mitko ...

Former Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska has been taken to prison. She arrived in Idrizovo at 6 pm on Monday. The Criminal Court’s President, Ivan Dzolev, told Telma TV that he had received the final verdict from the Supreme Court, after which it had been handed over to Jankuloska. According to him, there is no possibility for a delay because Jankuloska ...

According to PM Zoran Zaev, the Joint Commission, not politics, should resolve the Goce Delcev issue. As he said in Monday’s interview with Kanal 5 TV, though history matters a lot to both Skopje and Sofia, it must be a starting point to build the future. No European country and government should call identity issues into question, Zaev added. Asked ...

On the first day of his visit to Brussels, Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani met Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission. He welcomed Borrell’s active engagement with regards to support for the region’s European perspective, as well as the launched initiatives to provide peace, stability, and prosperity in countries in the Western ...

The trial over the 2013 Violence in Centar case continued on Monday. Lawyer Dimitar Dangov said in his closing argument that the charge against former minister Mile Janakieski should be withdrawn because evidence didn’t exist that showed he had commited a crime. According to him, even if it is not a withdrawn, the Criminal Court will need to find his ...