North Macedonia

Greece's decision not to agree to a joint letter of the 27 European Union member-states to Albania on the opening of negotiations of the first package of accession chapters constitutes a substantial escalation of the hard stance toward Tirana due to the ongoing violation of the rights of Fredi Beleri, an ethnic Greek who was jailed just before he was elected mayor of Himare in the neighboring c

Bulgaria has provided assurances to the US special envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, that it will not introduce fresh conditions for the accession of the Republic of North Macedonia into the European Union (EU).

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called on North Macedonia to finish the changes to its constitution.

She gave a joint briefing with Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski in Skopje, where she is visiting as part of her tour of the Western Balkans.

SKOPJE - The government of North Macedonia said on Thursday North Macedonian citizens who remained stranded in Israel would evacuated on an Air Serbia flight on Friday.

In a statement, the government said it would cover all expenses of the Tel Aviv-Skopje flight.

The Republic of North Macedonia celebrates its Independence Day today.

A senior US State Department official on Friday voiced hope that North Macedonia will be able to approve politically difficult constitutional changes that would help its bid to join the European Union.

Gabriel Escobar, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Balkan policy, said during talks in the capital Skopje that the US strongly backs the country's EU accession bid.

A political crisis in the Republic of North Macedonia after debates on constitutional changes ended inconclusively and a vote on them was postponed indefinitely. MPs in Skopje debated whether to change their basic law, including whether Bulgarians should be included in the constitution. According to analysts, North Macedonia risks seriously falling behind in negotiations with the EU.

With 70 votes "for", 47 "against" and not a single "abstention", the Macedonian deputies adopted the agenda of their 123rd meeting with a single item - the changes to include Bulgarians in the constitution, which should open the way to negotiations with the European Union.

"We played a nice game of chess," President Vui wrote on his official Instagram account.
Earlier today, President Vui visited the Aleksi Winery together with the President of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski.4

The largest party representing North Macedonia's ethnic Albanian minority offered to pull its ministers from the government to meet a demand from the opposition to clear the way for European Union membership talks.