Judge Dobrila Kacarska has violated Nikola Gruevski’s right to a fair trial, the Commission for Protection against Discrimination decided on Monday, in response to the former PM’s complaint. The Commission, headed by Aleksandar Dastevski, had made in September an identical decision on former Interior Minister Jankuloska. Afterwards, an initiative to dismiss Dastevski was submitted before the Criminal Court. SDSM criticised ...

The judicial system, security-intelligence services, public administration sector and fight against corruption are the areas on which the reforms contained in the Government’s Plan 18 for getting closer to the EU are focused. Plan 18 is continuation of the reforms implemented with Plan 3-6-9. At Tuesday’s briefing with journalists, ruling coalition members said they were waiting for remarks about the ...

Greek opposition party New Democracy is dissatisfied with the Macedonian Government’s amendments. “PM Zoran Zaev’s proposal for the neighbouring country’s revision of the Constitution makes the already bad Prespa Agreement worse. It keeps Article 36, which not only maintains irredentism, but also encourages it. Also, it confirms Skopje’s insistence on existence of an alleged ‘Macedonian nation’. Though the Government claims ...

At a press-conference on Friday, PM Zoran Zaev said the demands by BESA and Alliance for Albanians regarding constitutional changes caused changes that weren’t of identity and Ohrid Framework Agreement nature. However, he added MPs had a legitimate right to demand that. The PM called for the inclusive process to continue. Zaev hopes that the spring of 2019 will see ...

The Criminal Court has rejected VMRO-DPMNE’s appeal and confirmed the decision to freeze the party’s assets. The procedure is related to the Thalir case, opened by the Special Prosecutor’s Office (SPO). According to Hristijan Mickoski’s party, the decision to freeze the assets should be annulled because it is unfounded “In order to please PM Zoran Zaev, the obedient judiciary accepted ...

With a special ceremony held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the Government of Macedonia observed the Day of the United Nations (UN). At the celebration, PM Zoran Zaev, FM Nikola Dimitrov and UNDP Representative Louisa Vinton addressed the attendees. “Our independence and the membership in this organisation is clear proof that our country is strongly supported by international ...

The constitutional amendments that the Parliament decided to endorse last week are currently being drafted. There are ongoing consultations over the possible engagement of VMRO-DPMNE MPs in their preparation. The draft-amendments could be forwarded to the Parliament over the weekend or early next week. SDSM MP group says time is left for opposition deputies to get involved, although they voice ...

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev held Thursday a phone conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who expressed support and congratulated on the success achieved in implementing the Prespa Agreement. Stoltenberg welcomed the courageous, grand and statesmanlike decision of the MPs, telling PM Zaev that NATO was pleased Macedonia was moving ahead, the government said in a press release. The NATO ...

I remain open to including the opposition to allow them to make their own suggestions for strengthening identity, guaranteeing the commitment and the voting in Greece, our integration into the EU, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev stated on Wednesday. He said he would hold consultation meetings later in the day with all parliamentary groups. “I want to hold the first consultation ...

The leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, at Tuesday’s celebration of the Day of the Macedonian Revolutionary Struggle, demanded that an amnesty law be passed for the people responsible for the events on April 27 in Parliament. According to him, this way, there will be indiscriminate justice and freedom for all. Regarding the newly-emerging situation in the party he leads, he ...