Macedonian protests

A coalition of 28 small right-wing political parties, political factions, civic associations and NGOs are backing a campaign dubbed 'Macedonia Boycotts', whose aim is to foil September's referendum on the historic 'name' agreement with Greece, which is key for Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic path.

Implementing the agreement with Greece is a condition for its accession to the EU and NATO.

In his public address after Monday's parlays, Macedonian Prime Minister and main ruling Social Democrats leader Zoran Zaev accused the opposition right-wing VMRO DPMNE chief Hristijan Mickovski of "lying" that he wants his country to join NATO and the EU, and of hiding his true intentions at the talks.

Macedonia's main opposition VMRO DPMNE party has agreed to stop blocking the appointments of members of the State Electoral Commission, DIK, in exchange for a provision guaranteeing the formation of a technical government 100 days ahead of any future elections, to ensure their fairness and regularity.

Talks between Macedonia's main ruling Social Democrats, led by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, and the main opposition VMRO DPMNE party, led by Hristijan Mickovski, failed to clear the path on Thursday towards a referendum on the historic "name" deal with Greece.

After marathon discussions between the heads of all of Macedonia's parliamentary parties on Wednesday ended without agreement, talks were due to resume in Skopje on Thursday between the leaders of the four largest parties alone.

The prime minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has announced the question his country's citizens will face in a referendum this fall on a recent deal with Greece changing the country's name to "North Macedonia."

Zaev said this at a joint press conference with EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn in Skopje, when a journalist asked him to comment on the reaction of the Russian Foreign Ministry in connection with allegations that Russian businessmen were involved in the destabilization of Macedonia.

The Macedonian prime minister added that Macedonia's strategic goal is cooperation with Russia.

Macedonia's parliamentarians on Wednesday approved the long-negotiated agreement with Greece over the country's name, with all 69 deputies who attended the session voting in favour. Opposition deputies boycotted the session, however. Parliament has 120 seats.

Serbia remains the only Balkan state which has not yet publicly congratulated its neighbour Macedonia and Greece on their signing on Sunday of a landmark agreement aimed at finally resolving their decades-long dispute over Macedonia's name.