Macedonian referendum

According to Macedonian media, Zaev warned the EU that its reputation would "get a serious blow in the Balkans and lose its place in front of rival forces if it does not start membership negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania soon".

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev will meet today at EU Headquarters in Brussels with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Parliament President David Sassoli, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, EC Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans and with EU Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Oliver Varhei.

Two days before it was scheduled to start, North Macedonia's governing and opposition parties have agreed to postpone the long-awaited census for five months so that census takers and the wider population can get vaccinated first.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on Wednesday unexpectedly asked North Macedonia's parliament to take an immediate vote of confidence in his cabinet after the main opposition right-wing VMRO DPMNE party claimed Zaev's wafer-thin majority in parliament was shaky, and that it could soon muster enough support to topple him.

Ilhan Kyuchyuk, the European Parliament's standing rapporteur for North Macedonia, is on an official visit to Skopje. He has already met with North Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski, PM Zoran Zaev, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani, Vice-PM Nikola Dimitrov, Minister of Local Self-Government Goran Milevski and opposition party leader Hristijan Mickoski.

Some 2,000 protesters staged an opposition rally in North Macedonia late Thursday to demand the resignation of the country's Social Democrat prime minister, Zoran Zaev.

Still no newly elected council for national broadcaster:

Changes to the national broadcaster, Macedonian Radio and Television, MRT, and to the institution that regulates the electronic media, the Agency for Audio and Audio-visual Services, AVMU, were key stated priorities for the Social Democrats.

Northern Macedonia will become a NATO member soon, all NATO countries have completed the process of ratifying its membership protocol. This was announced by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, presenting his annual report on the state of NATO in 2019.

The heads of North Macedonia's main political parties met at the presidential palace in Skopje on Tuesday and agreed to postpone the early elections, which were originally slated for April 12.

The modalities for the postponement and a new election date have yet to be determined, however.

An opinion poll published on Monday by the International Republican Institute, IRI, a US-based democracy development organisation, suggested that North Macedonia's main ruling Social Democrats enjoy a very slight popularity advantage over their bitter rivals, the right-wing opposition VMRO DPNNE party.