Macedonia

From midnight Bulgaria officially closed its borders to third countries at all border checkpoints, no matter what the vehicles are.

The measure effectively applies to our borders with Turkey, Northern Macedonia and Serbia and will remain in force until April 17th. An important clarification is that this ban does not affect nationals of EU Member States and their families.

Greek authorities lifted on Monday the strict restrictions on movement for two mountainous villages in western Macedonia which had been placed on lockdown since March 16 due to a cluster of coronavirus deaths and infections.

NATO foreign ministers welcomed North Macedonia as the alliance's newest member on Thursday, ending a long process that included a change to the country's name.

"We welcome North Macedonia as NATO's 30th ally," NATO foreign ministers said in a statement following a video conference, which North Macedonia's minister was part of as a full member.

The Hellenic Police (ELAS) recorded more than 1,900 violations of social distancing measures in just one day, it said on Thursday.
During nationwide inspections on Wednesday on individuals flouting regulations for stemming public circulation amid the coronavirus epidemic, ELAS officers reported a total of 1,916 violations.

Eleven snow ploughs were dispatched by municipal authorities in northern Greece to clear roads on and around Mount Hortiatis, which received more than 30 centimeters of snowfall overnight and on Thursday morning.

The port of Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest, is evolving into a key gateway for the entire Balkan peninsula's supply chain, while constantly becoming a more important part of China's maritime trade plans.

According to data of the Bulgarian Border Police, nearly 110,000 Bulgarians returned from abroad from the first day of quarantine until March 23. 36,000 people returned to Bulgaria by plane. Over 26,000 Bulgarians entered this country from Romania, nearly 2,000 from Greece. 3,000 Bulgarian nationals entered this country from North Macedonia and 4,000 people entered Bulgaria from Serbia.

The Greek Foreign Ministry has congratulated North Macedonia for becoming the 30th member of NATO.

"We congratulate the Republic of North Macedonia that joins NATO as the 30th member of our alliance. We welcome our neighbors to the NATO family and look forward to working together as allies," it tweeted.

Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borissov on March 27 congratulated the Republic of North Macedonia on its accession to NATO.

"As of today, the Republic of North Macedonia is the thirtieth NATO member state. I congratulate our neighbours on their accession to the North Atlantic Treaty and look forward to the country's internal reforms.

North Macedonia on Friday officially became the 30th member of the NATO military alliance.

"North Macedonia is now part of the NATO family, a family of 30 nations and almost 1 billion people. A family based on the certainty that, no matter what challenges we face, we are all stronger and safer together," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement. [AP]