SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English

On Tuesday, Parliament determined the need to adopt the law for ratification of the Skopje-Athens name agreement.  110 MPs attended the session. 69 voted in favour, while 40 were against. FM Nikola Dimitrov explained before parliamentarians the need to adopt the law in a shortened procedure. The adoption deadline is 22 June 2018. As Dimitrov said, it’s more than necessary ...

During the session which saw Parliament determine the need to adopt the law for ratification of the Skopje-Athens name agreement, the protests against the deal continued. Once VMRO-DPMNE left Parliament’s work, protesters headed to the opposition party’s HQ, urging party leader Hristijan Mickoski to, as they said, to bring VMRO-DPMNE to the streets.  Mickoski received protesters’ representatives. “I will support ...

Greek FM Nikos Kotzias denies the more and more present information that the government in Athens rushed to sign the name agreement with its northern neighbour in exchange for a part of Greece’s debt being forgiven. “We didn’t give anything in order to get something in return. We made a best deal in which we took our and their interests ...

In Tuesday’s interview with the Truth only show on Kanal 5 TV, PM Zoran Zaev discussed the name process, as well as previous and current developments related to the dispute. During the name issue negotiations in 2012 and 2013, then-PM Nikola Gruevski agreed to the name “Upper Macedonia”, but Greece rejected that because it was provoked by the antiquisation and ...

On Tuesday, the Criminal Court separated the procedure against former Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska, who is a defendant in the Target-Fortress case, opened by the Special Prosecutor’s Office. The institution headed by Special Katica Janeva requested for her to be tried in a separate procedure because she is pregnant. The procedure for fugitives Goran Grujevski and Nikola Boskoski, who are ...

The government adopted on Monday the draft law for ratification of the name agreement with Greece. The document was submitted to Parliament. Once it passes the parliamentary filter, it will be submitted to President Gjorge Ivanov, who will have seven days to sign it. The President has already said he will not accept a constitutional change aiming at a change ...

The reactions to the latest developments related to the name issue in Greece continued in Greece. Greek FM Nikos Kotzias considers that a deal without compromise is reached only in a time of war. “We are not at war with the neighbouring country. We are friends. The ones that are now protesting in Greece are the ones that welcome the ...

24 people involved in Sunday’s protest outside Parliament ended up in Skopje’s clinics without serious injuries. 12 people with breathing problems due to the tear gas were admitted to St. Naum of Ohrid University Clinic of Surgical Diseases. After the examination, they were released. Another 12 ended up in the Emergency Centre with lighter injuries. Only two had leg cuts ...

On Sunday, FM Nikola Dimitrov and his Greek counterpart, Nikos Kotzias, signed in the Greek village of Psarades 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 between the Parties. The ...

The signing of the name deal on Sunday resulted in numerous reactions. VMRO-DPMNE organised a protest march in Bitola, where the leader, Hristijan Mickoski, said his party would not support “this disgraceful act” and support no constitutional change. “The time will come when there will be responsibility for this capitulation that they have served the country,” Mickoski pointed out. According ...