Skopje

European Council President Donald Tusk says North Macedonia is ready to start membership talks with the European Union, following a deal the country reached with neighboring Greece to change its name.
Tusk spoke Tuesday during a visit to Skopje, where he met with President Stevo Pendarovski and Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.

Northern Macedonia expects to receive a start date for talks with the European Union in October, Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov said.

For Reuters, he explained that this step is important so as not to discourage Balkan governments wishing to reform or young people who are otherwise seeking a "European way of life" elsewhere.

1. The numbers don't add up:

A new railroad in the south of the country. Photo: mtc.gov.mk

From the information made available so far, by the end of this year, or during next year, the government plans to start several big capital investments. But a big question is where the authorities hope to obtain the first 1.4 euros needed for them.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has funded the construction in a central Tirana park of a memorial commemorating "the martyrs of July 15," a reference to the Turkish citizens who lost their lives in the failed coup of 2016.

Efforts by North Macedonia's government to re-label public statues of historic figures, under a deal with neighboring Greece, have got off to a rocky start.
Overnight, vandals removed plaques installed Thursday on three statues in the capital, Skopje, of ancient Greek warrior-king Alexander the Great and his family, which clarified that they belong to ancient Greek history.

Unknown perpetrators in North Macedonia have removed or smashed plaques added to several statues and monuments in Skopje - which explained that they depict historical figures "belonging to the ancient Hellenic history and civilisation and to world cultural and historic heritage".

The action occurred just one day after the authorities put them up.

The government in Skopje has come up with an ambitious draft strategy to combat the epidemic of fake news - but many media professionals and experts are not persuaded.

The states that once formed part of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s experienced war, mass murder, ethnic cleansing, and humanitarian disaster. Economic growth was slow or negative and corruption was the rule, not the exception. The outflow of refugees was much greater than the migration of young people out of the Balkans today.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov vowed not to impede North Macedonia's progress towards European Union membership at ceremonies marking the second anniversary of their landmark friendship treaty.

US Acting Assistant Secretary of European and Eurasian Affairs Philip T. Reeker began Sunday a visit to Greece and North Macedonia, which will last until Saturday, the State Department has announced.

Reeker, a career diplomat, was Ambassador to Skopje (2008-11) and served one more tour of duty there.

The full State Department announcement follows: