Concerns Grow About Authoritarianism in Macedonia

ny times
By MATTHEW BRUNWASSER

Published: October 13, 2011
SKOPJE, MACEDONIA — The ambitious retooling of this small nation’s identity — a Balkan brand of hyper-patriotism accompanied by the trumpeting of Macedonia’s ancient roots — is raising concerns internationally about growing authoritarianism, the silencing of dissent and accusations of abuse of power by the governing party here....more...
read more: ny times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/world/europe/concerns-grow-about-authoritarianism-in-macedonia.html?ref=macedonia

Macedonia celebrates its independence -video-

euronews
Anniversary - Independence - Macedonia

09/09 16:51 CET

Thousands of Macedonians poured into the capital Skopje on Thursday to mark 20 years of independence. Festivities include a giant parade involving the military, politicians and celebrities....more...
read more: euronews
http://www.euronews.net/nocomment/2011/09/09/macedonia-celebrates-its-independence/

A profile of Gruevski

the economist
Macedonia's prime minister
Aug 12th 2011, 16:53 by T.J.

On July 28th "European Voice", the Economist's sister EU-affairs newspaper, published my profile of Nikola Gruevski, Macedonia's prime minister. With the odd adjustment for style, here it is.

MACEDONIANS either love him or loathe him. To his detractors, Nikola Gruevski, who was confirmed as prime minister for a third term on July 28th, is corrupt, a populist, a ruthless Machiavellian and an enemy of a free media. “No, no, no,” say his supporters. He is as clean as a whistle, modest, the scourge of tax-dodging tycoons and a family-values man to his core....more...
read more: the economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/08/macedonias-prime-minister

Macedonian Media Law Changes Worry Watchdogs

balkan insight
20 JUL 2011 / 10:25

Macedonian journalists' associations and the European Commission react with concern to amendments to the broadcasting law, adopted on Monday.

Sinisa Jakov Marusic Skopje
Macedonia's ruling party pushed through amendments to the country's media laws on Monday, cutting the size of the Broadcasting Council from 15 to 9 members....more...
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonia-passes-controversial-broadcasting-law

Macedonia Government Pledges Faster Growth

balkan insight
19 JUL 2011 / 09:35

Improvement of the economy and curbing of high unemployment remains key goals of the new government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

Sinisa Jakov Marusic Skopje

In the government platform submitted to parliament last week Prime Minister Gruevski promised speedier economic growth, a doubling in the level of foreign investment by 2015 and curbing the 31 per cent unemployment rate by almost 7 per cent....more....
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonia-remains-focused-on-economy

Approval Expected for New Macedonian Government

balkan insight
18 JUL 2011 / 14:06

Quick approval of the new government of Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is expected when parliament votes on July 27.

Sinisa Jakov Marusic Skopje

Gruevski submitted his list of nominees to the assembly on Friday. He was charged with forming a new cabinet after his centre-right party, VMRO DPMNE, won the early June 5 elections....more...
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/new-macedonian-government-to-be-voted-soon

Macedonia Soothes Albanians Over Hague Cases

balkan insight
14 JUL 2011 / 09:42

After reportedly striking a deal with his ethnic Albanian partner party on war crimes cases, Nikola Gruevski is expected to present his new government to parliament on Thursday.

Sinisa Jakov Marusic and Sase Dimovski Skopje

Talks between Gruevski’s VMRO-DPMNE party and its ethnic Albanian partner, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, appear to be over on a new government.

Talks began after both parties won the June 5 elections in their respective ethnic blocs....more...
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonian-government-deal-cancels-hague-cases

SEEMO Says Macedonia Stifles Press Freedom

balkan insight
13 JUL 2011 / 12:54

Independent media voices in Macedonia are being silenced, warns the Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation, SEEMO.

Sinisa Jakov Marusic Skopje

In a statement released on Tuesday, SEEMO charges the centre-right government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski with deliberately targeting critically oriented media....more...
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/seemo-worried-about-macedonian-press-freedom

Macedonia press freedom threat

guardian
Posted by

Roy Greenslade Wednesday 13 July 2011 11.50 BST
guardian.co.uk
Three daily newspapers in Macedonia - Shpic, Vreme and Koha e Re - have been forced to close down after falling into debt.

But the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) believes they are victims of a government policy to reduce media outlets critical of prime minister Nikola Gruevski....more....
read more: guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/jul/13/press-freedom-macedonia

Macedonia's Statue of Philip Will Top Alexander's

balkan insight
12 JUL 2011 / 09:10

After upsetting neighbouring Greece with its recently erected equestrian statue of Alexander the Great, Macedonia plans to erect an even taller statue of his father.
Sinisa Jakov Marusic Skopje

Macedonia's capital is to be dignified with a new 28-metre bronze statue of Philip of Macedon standing amid a luxurious complex of four fountains.

If all goes to plan, the complex will be even taller than the nearby statue of Alexander, which at 24 metres already towers over the centre of Skopje....more....
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonia-s-phillip-statue-taller-than-alexander

Pro-Gruevski Media Hail Closure of Macedonian Rivals

balkan insight
08 JUL 2011 / 16:31

Two pro-government media outlets have publicly urged the authorities not to forgive the outstanding tax debts of pro-opposition rivals owned by detained tycoon Velija Ramkovski.

Sinisa Jakov Marusic Skopje

Macedonia's privately run Sitel TV and a daily newspaper, Vecer, have urged the authorities not to forgive the 10 million euro tax debt of detained media mogul Velija Ramkovski....more...
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonian-media-turn-against-each-other

Macedonia Pulls Plug on Opposition Media

balkan insight
07 JUL 2011 / 13:01

Closure of critically oriented outlets leaves Nikola Gruevski's government without its biggest media critics.

Sase Dimovski

Macedonian media that hold critical views of the centre-right government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski are fast closing, or are under serious threat of closure.

In what some are calling a “Black Friday for Macedonian journalism”, three pro-opposition newspapers Shpic, Vreme, and Koha e Re, owned by detained media tycoon Velija Ramkovski, have all closed at once, ostensibly as a result of their failure to repay back taxes now demanded by the authorities. ...more....

read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonia-pulls-plug-on-opposition-media

Macedonia Finishes Touches to New Government

balkan insight
07 JUL 2011 / 10:38

Talks on a new government led by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski are nearly finished, sources from Gruevski’s VMRO-DPMNE party say.

Sinisa Jakov Marusic Skopje

The names of Macedonia's new ministers and their deputies should be known by Friday, unnamed party sources told the Macedonian daily newspaper, Dnevnik.

According to these sources, Gruevski, head of VMRO-DPMNE, and Ali Ahmeti, head of the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, have already agreed on 90 per cent of the posts. ...more....
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonian-government-talks-nearing-finish

Macedonia Foreign Minister Quits For Family Reasons

balkan insight
30 JUN 2011 / 18:59

Antonio Milososki, a trusted ally of the Prime Minister's, announces that he is resigning from the post he has held for five years to spend more time with his family.

Sinisa Jakov Marusic Skopje

Milososki, who was seen as a trusted ally of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, said he was resigning for personal reasons, “to spend more time with my family”.....more...
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonia-s-foreign-minister-milososki-resigns

‘They Like to Arrest People Here’

balkan insight
28 JUN 2011 / 09:32

Ružica Matić

Young protesters have taken the place of desperate older laid-off workers on the streets of Skopje, a strife-ridden city flooded with monuments to its contentious past.

It was hour before midnight when I arrived in Skopje last week. Sleepy and somewhat confused, I exited the airport building in a few steps, before even realising I had gone anywhere. Compared to Skopje’s airport, even Zagreb's Pleso seems like a giant landing field. ...more...
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/blog/they-like-to-arrest-people-here

Skopje Warrior Fails to Make Greek Headlines

balkan insight
28 JUN 2011 / 19:44

Debt-ravaged Greeks appear content to let Europe chastise Skopje over its new statue of an ‘ancient warrior’.

By George Mesthos...more...
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/skopje-warrior-fails-to-make-greek-headlines

Gruevski Asked to Form Macedonian Government

balkan insight
28 JUN 2011 / 15:55

President Gjorge Ivanov on Tuesday entrusted Nikola Gruevski with a fresh mandate to form a new government after his VMRO-DPMNE party won the June 5 elections. He has 20 days to complete talks and present a new team to parliament.

Sinisa Jakov Marusic Skopje

Gruevski will now have 20 days to wrap up talks with his junior ethnic Albanian partner, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, after which his proposed government will be put to a vote in parliament....more...
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonia-s-gruevski-asked-to-form-new-government

Macedonia – time to contemplate genuine coexistence

transconflict
Posted on June 22nd, 2011 in the category Macedonia by TransConflict Subscribe to the transconflict RSS feed 5 Comments

With incumbent prime minister, Nikola Gruevski, having secured his third consecutive election, thereby confirming his and his party’s hegemony over Macedonia’s politics, it is now time to contemplate how a genuine system of coexistence can be built.
By Spyros A. Sofos

After months of a bitter confrontation between Macedonia’s ruling coalition and the opposition, and a protracted boycott of the Sobranie by the opposition SDSM (Social Democratic Union of Macedonia) as well as the smaller NDP (National Democratic Party), NSDP (New Social Democratic Party), ND (Liberal Party) and LPD (Liberal Democratic Party), voters in the Republic of Macedonia (and the diaspora, where for the first time three representatives were to be elected) have gone to the polls....more....
read more: transconflict
http://www.transconflict.com/2011/06/macedonia-time-to-contemplate-genuine-coexistence-226/

Greece Criticizes Macedonia Over Alexander The Great Statue

radio free europe
June 16, 2011
SKOPJE -- Greece has criticized Macedonia's erection of a bronze statue of Alexander the Great as a provocation that could further strain relations with the country with which it is locked in a name dispute, RFE/RL's Balkan Service reports....more....
read more: radio free europe
http://www.rferl.org/content/macedonia_alexander_the_great_statue_greece_dispute/24237371.html

Greece Slates Skopje’s ‘Provocative’ Alexander Statue

balkan insight
15 JUN 2011 / 12:55

Athens warns that attempt to ‘usurp Greek history’ will impact on Macedonia’s hopes of joining NATO and EU

Sinisa Jakov Marusic Skopje
Greek officials have condemned Macedonia’s move to erect a giant statue of Alexander the Great in the heart of the capital, Skopje, as provocative and retrograde.....more...
read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/greece-slates-skopje-s-provocative-alexander-statue