World

Juncker: Western Balkan states must solve border disputes before joining EU

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Saturday underscored the importance of offering countries in the Western Balkans the prospect of EU membership, but insisted they must resolve all border disputes before joining the bloc, Reuters reports. “There are many border disputes in the West Balkans and they must be resolved before we can go a …

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Kotzias prefers name in Slavic, untranslated, including geographic qualifier

The neighboring country has perceived term ‘Macedonia’ as a national not geographic trait, and now we must find a geographic or territorial qualifier. My wish is for the name to be untranslated, in Slavic language, such as New Macedonia, Vardar Macedonia, Upper Macedonia, says Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias. In an interview with Greek TV …

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Macedonia, Bulgaria to seek funding together for infrastructural projects

Macedonia and Bulgaria will join forces to provide funds for infrastructural projects along Corridor 8 deemed important for the region’s development, Macedonian Minister of Transport and Communications Goran Sugareski and his Bulgarian counterpart Ivaylo Moskovski announced after their meeting Thursday in Sofia. While discussing railway projects, Sugareski said Macedonia was actively working on the construction …

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Opposition leader Mitsotakis slams Greek PM over poor handling of name negotiations

Everybody is already aware that the government handling of Skopje-Athens name negotiations has been wrong from the start, leader of Greek opposition New Democracy Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a speech before his party’s parliamentary group. ‘Without a plan, guarantees they (the government) has started to give in everything being satisfied only with two symbolic gestures …

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Grujevski and Boskovski to appear before Supreme Court in Athens on Friday

Athens, 15 February 2018 (MIA) – Ex-secret service officers Goran Grujevski and Nikola Boskovski are scheduled on Friday at 9:30 a.m. to attend a hearing at the Supreme Court in Athens, which is to deliberate over their appeal involving the extradition ruling of a court in Thessaloniki, MIA reports from the Greek capital. Grujevski and …

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Tzanakopoulos: Greek government believes in a possibility of finding mutually acceptable name solution

Greek government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos is optimistic with regard to a possibility of finding a mutually acceptable solution to the name dispute. The name negotiations are resuming after yesterday’s round within the frame set along with our neighbors, Tzanakopoulos told the ERT first program. ‘We are optimistic that we will succeed to reach a mutually …

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Macedonia-Bulgaria Treaty on Good-Neighborliness enters into force

Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov and his Bulgarian counterpart Ekaterina Zaharieva will sign Wednesday the protocol for exchange of ratification documents which enforces the Treaty on Friendship, Good-Neighborliness and Cooperation between two countries. This will complete the formal procedure for entry the treaty into force following its ratification in the Macedonian Parliament on Jan. 15 …

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US concerns over EU defense pact cloud NATO talks

NATO defense ministers gathered for talks Wednesday amid US concerns over the EU’s landmark defense cooperation pact and increasingly strained relations between Washington and Turkey, AFP reports. Washington and Ankara, two of the transatlantic alliance’s most important members, are at loggerheads over Turkey’s military offensive in northern Syria, which US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson …

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FMs Dimitrov and Kotzias agree for name dispute settlement process to resume under UN auspices

UN mediator in Skopje-Athens name negotiations Mathew Nimetz met Tuesday in Vienna with the Macedonian and Greek Foreign Ministers, Nikola Dimitrov and Nikos Kotzias respectively. “Following a constructive meeting as part of the efforts to find a mutually acceptable solution to the ‘name’ issue, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs agreed to continue their efforts under …

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Mayor Boutaris says he hasn’t suggested renaming of Thessaloniki airport ‘Makedonia’

My statements are interpreted incorrectly as I’ve never suggested for the Thessaloniki airport to be renamed, Mayor Yiannis Boutaris told media on Tuesday. Last night at a meeting of the city council and this morning in an interview with Skai TV, Boutaris said a name change of the city airport ‘Makedonia’  could be considered, MIA …

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Bulgaria FM says she’s glad name talks made progress

I’m glad that progress in the name negotiations between Athens and Skopje has been made, Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister said when asked about the dispute between Greece and Macedonia. “It’s a bilateral issue and we should leave Athens and Skopje to negotiate under the mediation of the United Nations,” Ekaterina Zakharieva noted wishing the negotiating parties …

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Renaming of Thessaloniki airport “Makedonia” could be considered: mayor Boutaris

Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris has said a name change of the city airport “Makedonia” could be considered, MIA reports from Greece. “I am not saying it should change, only asking whether we should consider this, because the name ‘Macedonia’ has divided us and everyone loses”, Boutaris told Skai TV. According to him, the airport could …

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Tsipras: Name settlement should include compound name for overall use

A compound name to be used both at home and abroad, which also requires changes to the Constitution, and elimination of any kind of irredentist claims constitutes the framework guaranteeing a closure of the dispute, said Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Speaking at a meeting of SYRIZA’s parliamentary group, Tsipras amongst other things, involving the economy …

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Explosive device set off at Greek opposition leader’s wife’s store

A makeshift explosive device went off outside a store operated by Greece’s opposition leader’s wife in central Athens near the Acropolis hill early Monday. No injury has been reported but only minor damages to the fashion store that belongs to Mareva Grabowski, New Democracy party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ wife, Xinhua reports. The perpetrators fled and …

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Western Balkans is not Switzerland, it needs NATO: Debate

 The Western Balkans is not Switzerland so that it does not need NATO membership, because the region is a channel of terrorism-related extreme ideologies, heard Thursday’s debate on the tasks, challenges and opportunities from Macedonia’s NATO membership. The discussion was organized by NGO Civil, in the framework of project “Free Media for Free Society”, funded …

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