Macedonia

All citizens entering Serbia from the territories of Bulgaria, Croatia, Northern Macedonia and Romania must have a negative PCR test performed no later than 48 hours. This was decided today by the Crisis Headquarters to combat the spread of corovanirus in Serbia, BTA reported, citing Tanjug.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, North Macedonia this year decided against holding a traditional banquet to commemorate the anniversary of the signing of the historic 2001 Ohrid Peace Accord which ended a short-lived conflict that year by granting more rights to the country's ethnic Albanians.

North Macedonia's president on Thursday handed a mandate to pro-Western ex-prime minister Zoran Zaev to form a new government after his party bloc narrowly won a July 15 election.

"I will lead a government that will not ... veer away from the road leading to membership of the European Union after obtaining membership of NATO," Zaev said.

Greece's Defense Council was on Tuesday meeting under Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos amid an escalation of tensions with Turkey, state-run Athens-Macedonia news agency said, quoting ministry sources.

The meeting was attended by deputy National Defense Minister Alkiviadis Stefanis and the country's top military brass.

Alexandros lives in the province of Macedonia in north-western Greece, home to the birthplace of Alexander the Great. Aleksandar is a citizen of North Macedonia, the neighbouring country that emerged from the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1991.

North Macedonia's president has declared an eight-day state of emergency ahead of an early national election after the country's main political leaders agreed the vote will be held on July 15.

The new jump of Covid-19 infections in several neighboring countries have forced the Greek government to reconsider its plan to reopen its northern borders to Balkan tourists, allowing only Bulgarians to cross into the country.

Greece reopened to more international flights on Monday as the tourist season formally got under way, with the aim to strike what government spokesman Stelios Petsas described as a delicate balance between an "authentic" travel experience and the safety of visitors.

Milan Vukosavljevic, our consul in Athens, managed to get the Promachonas border crossing, i.e. border checkpoint Kulata, open for our tourists who are waiting all day.
As "Novosti" finds out, our tourists are slowly crossing the border checkpoint and moving towards summer resorts.

The opening of the border came an hour after it was officially announced that it would be opened, and EU citizens who want to enter Bulgaria must first fill in a questionnaire stating their full name and place where they are traveling, BTA reports.