Zoran Zaev

Voters in North Macedonia head to the polls on Wednesday for the first round of presidential elections, in a test vote that could define the country's EU perspective.

The leader of the main opposition party in North Macedonia has said that if elected prime minister, he would refer to the country solely as "Macedonia," regardless of the 2018 Prespes Agreement that settled the dispute with Greece over the country's name.

Former prime minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev refers to the benefits of the Prespes agreement for his country, Greece, and the wider Balkan region, in an interview with Kathimerini.

Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski approves the creation of "black lists" for Bulgarian citizens and politicians, reported BGNES. The statement was made during a forum organized by the Belgrade Center for Political Security on the topic: "Russian aggression against Ukraine and the new situation with EU enlargement".

"The threat of 'Bulgarianization' is a fiction of the opposition with the aim of instilling fear among Macedonians", believes the president of our southwestern neighbor, Stevo Pendarovski. He announced this in an interview with the local publication "Trilling".

Both understand that bad moves at the local level are more tolerable to the West than those at the regional level, as long as you play nice with the neighbours; both rule their countries with an iron fist - Vucic overtly, Rama's hidden behind a velvet glove.

With 68 votes "in favor" and none "against" and in the absence of MPs from the main opposition party VMRO-DPMNE and the small "Levitsa" formation, the parliament adopted draft conclusions, with which the cabinet is given direction on what it can and cannot negotiates in the European integration process.

"The latest proposal to lift the Bulgarian veto is nothing but a classic assimilation of the Macedonian people and Macedonian identity". This was said by the leader of the VMRO-DPMNE in the RNM, Hristijan Mickoski, in an interview with Serbian television. Mickoski gave the interview in pure literary Serbian, reported BGNES.

"If North Macedonia does not accept the French proposal, Albania will continue alone on the path to European integration. I think that is only right, but I hope that this will not be necessary", said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte after his meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama yesterday.

At the beginning, Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski addressed the audience, greeting all participants gathered, as citizens of the Western Balkans.