Macedonia

BELGRADE - Croatia's EU accession marked the end of one accession model, and the process is now completely different for Western Balkan states due to the circumstances in the region and the EU itself, such as the economic crisis, migration and Brexit, Regional Cooperation Council Secretary-General Goran Svilanovic said Thursday.

The National Assembly of Serbia on Thursday passed a bill ratifying an agreement on the establishment of the Western Balkans Fund.

Its aim is to "strengthen ties and encouraging the European integration of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia," Tanjug has reported.

Members of anarchist groups, including the Greek anarchist group called “Rubicon” invaded the US Consulate in Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Tuesday morning. 15 people threw leaflets and chanted slogans protesting against the scheduled visit to Greece of US President Barack Obama. Greek police arrived on the scene and proceeded to apprehend some of the anarchists.

At a meeting with Macedonian Prime Minister Emil Dimitriev, Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov expressed his expectation of a quick solution to the setting up of a memorial plaque to commemorate the soldiers who died at the Kaimakchalan peak, announced the press office of the Council of Ministers.

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic on Friday received Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov to discuss economic ties, the migrant crisis and the situation in the region.

Vucic and Ivanov agreed cooperation between security services needed to be stepped up to maintain stability in the Balkans amid the migrant crisis.

Tomislav Nikolic - Photo: Predsednik.rs

BELGRADE - EU membership is a common aspiration of Serbia and Macedonia, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said Friday, noting that the two countries could only accelerate this process through joint efforts, constant consultations and sharing of experiences.

Macedonia's Constitutional Court could potentially put the December 11 general election date on hold if it upholds a motion submitted on Tuesday by a small ethnic Albanian party.

The Uniteti party, which has no seats in parliaiment, says the larger number of registered voters in one of the six electoral districts renders the election unfair and thus illegal.

Six in 10 Greeks oppose the use of the word Macedonia in a composite name for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), according to a new opinion poll while seven in 10 believe the delay in resolving the dispute between Greece and FYROM regarding the latter's official name is harmful for Greece.

Regional governor of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Giorgos Pavlidis died of cancer early on Thursday, local media reported. He was 60 years old.

Pavlidis was a lawyer who also served as Prefect of Xanthi from 1998 to 2010.

After the Macedonian authorities found a mass grave last week near the village of Zajas, believed to date from the Second Balkan War in 1913, various reports have appeared in Bulgarian media claiming that the remains discovered belong to ethnic Bulgarians who rioted against the Serbs at the time.