Skopje

"It makes sense and it is necessary for the Republic of North Macedonia to make changes to its constitution", said the President of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, at a joint press conference with the President of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski. This was reported by BTA.

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday that, after the difficult period of the coronavirus pandemic, Serbia expected to attract more Greek investors, as well as to see more Serbian investments in Greece.

North Macedonia's Justice Minister, Krenar Loga, told Monday's briefing with reporters in Skopje that his country would renew efforts to extradite former PM Nikola Gruevski who fled to Hungary to avoid a jail term.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) defined as unprincipled and tendentious the decision of the authorities in North Macedonia to erase from the central register the Bulgarian association "Ivan Mihailov" Cultural Center in Bitola.

There will also no longer be any space for the gardens that surrounded the old buildings, or for the trees that used to grow there.

These trees were not only of sentimental value to old Skopje residents, or important for activists seeking more humane urban development.

European Union officials Friday said North Macedonia has made progress in a bid to join the bloc but urged political leaders to adopt a promised constitutional amendment needed to further the process.

In Skopje, after a meeting with Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski, he thanked North Macedonia for its support in the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina and expressed the hope that "the beautiful landscape of Ohrid will create the beautiful atmosphere needed to reach an agreement".

"North Macedonia has undertaken the commitment to amend its Constitution to include citizens living within the country's borders who are part of other nationalities such as Bulgarians."

Unknown persons broke into the Cultural and Information Center of Bulgaria in the center of Skopje on Wednesday night.

Marjan Ivanov, former manager of Euro Consulting, the company that has been engaged to supervise the construction of stretches of the cross-European highway corridors 8 and 10d in North Macedonia, is a suspect in a fraud investigation related to the former government's grandiose revamp of the capital, 'Skopje 2014', BIRN has learned.