SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English

During her visit to Skopje, Austria’s EU and Constitution Minister, Karoline Edtstadler, held a meeting with Deputy PM for European Affairs Nikola Dimitrov on Tuesday. In her view, Skopje and Tirana should continue the EU road together. As she added, decoupling will be risky and need to be prevented. The Austrian politician’s view is that nobody should be left behind. ...

Tuesday saw the 118th anniversary of revolutionary Goce Delcev’s death marked. Delegations of state institutions, members of associations, and citizens laid fresh flowers at the tomb in Skopje. PM Zoran Zaev said Delcev’s name and activity were synonymous with the Macedonian statehood. On the other hand, VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski once again criticised the Government over the Delcev issue. “If ...

The Prosecutor’s Office is criminally prosecuting former State Election (SEC) President Oliver Derkoski. According to the charge, with the procurement of software to make public results from previous parliamentary elections, he caused damage to the budget amounting to 900,000 denars (around 15,000 euros). The company he selected, it is added, didn’t meet the conditions to participate in the tender. Though ...

Orthodox Easter was observed throughout Macedonia on Sunday. There had been activities the previous day, too. In Skopje, the Head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, HH Stefan, and members of the Holy Synod urged compliance with the measures against the pandemic. However, though they called on believers to maintain distancing, they didn’t change the communion practice, that is, a single ...

In Friday’s interview with Kanal 5 TV, President Stevo Pendarovski, commenting on the Skopje-Sofia issue, says that a distinction should be made between political and historical criteria. He is optimistic that there will be a solution, but it remains to be seen what the price will be. According to the President, it’s unreasonable and illogical for Bulgaria to demand determination ...

“We’ve met all conditions for a start of negotiations,” Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said at Monday’s meeting in Berlin with counterpart Heiko Maas. According to Osmani, Macedonia expects Brussels to formalise in June the decision to open chapters with Skopje and Tirana. The efforts when it comes to good-neighbourly relations continue, especially with regards to Bulgaria. Germany expects bilateral issues ...

On Monday, Spokesperson Ana Pisonero stated that the European Commission looked forward to the holding of the first intergovernmental conference with Skopje and Tirana as soon as possible. As she added, though that is a clear position of the Commission, it’s the Council that should approve the negotiating framework. Pisonero added that the Portuguese Presidency was expected to convene the ...

EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi will pay a visit to Macedonia on Tuesday. “Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi will be travelling to the Western Balkans next week as the first COVID-19 vaccines, shared and funded by the European Union, arrive to the region. As announced by the European Commission and Austria on 20 April, in total 651,000 BioNTech/Pfizer ...