Tag: EU

The reforms concerning digitalization, their progress, are ongoing challenges that North Macedonia faces. Digitalization should be in step with the latest trends and improve the lives of the citizens, offering high-quality, fast, and efficient services. At a time when the world and Western countries are moving forward every day, the Republic of North Macedonia (MKD) is still lacking appropriate...

(This content is a translation of the original article in Macedonian, published on the 6th of December 2022) Metamorphosis Foundation for the 18th time organized the international e-Society.mk conference, which started on the 6th of December. The two-day conference in the Marriott hotel in Skopje with the motto “Cyber Resilience for Freedom and Security” started in a completely full room,...

Youth unemployment remains a problem that North Macedonia must work hard to solve, notes the latest Report of the EC on North Macedonia's EU accession progress. The youth and meeting the needs of this group remainс a challenge that has to be addressed and solved. The report stresses the problems that North Macedonia has to solve, as well as...

So far, the Government of North Macedonia doesn't have any stable option for buying gas for the central heating system in the capital Skopje, apart from purchasing gas from the Russian state company Gazprom through the gas pipeline from Bulgaria to Kumanovo. But, seeing what happened at the end of the last heating season and taking into account the...

European Commission's criticism on the transportation sector of North Macedonia is almost identical as last year, i.e. the sector remains a problem that the government must overcome. The EC's North Macedonia 2022 Report criticizes the same projects as the last year - the construction of the railroad line to Bulgaria, the Road Corridor 10-d from Gradsko to Prilep, the...

At the end of July 2022, the European Union granted the first projects for the implementation of the Economic and Investment plan for Western Balkan. North Macedonia applied for 4 investment projects and was granted financial support for them in the total amount of €225.6 million. The money is in the form of grants, i.e. financial support that will...

During yesterday's hearing at the Basic Criminal Court in Skopje, 6 more defendants accused for the incidents that happened in front of the Parliament of North Macedonia on the 5th of July, during the protests against the French proposal, received conditional sentences. They pleaded guilty and received court sentences for "participating in mob violence." "All of the 6 defendants, pleaded...

The Government of North Macedonia in yesterday's session reviewed and adopted the Information on the Accession of the Republic of North Macedonia to the Digital Europe (DIGITAL) program, prepared by the Ministry of Information Society and Administration, Government's press service informs. "DIGITAL is a new European Union’s program aimed at bringing the digital technologies closer to the businesses, the citizens...

"This decision by the EU's executive body to take Hungary to court over the alleged breach in EU telecoms rules regarding Klubrádió's frequency licence is a belated but important signal that the Commission is increasingly willing to use the tools available to it to defend independent media, freedom of expression and media pluralism where they are most threatened." This statement...

Eleven protesters were detained and 47 police officers were injured, 11 of which have severe injuries and two serious injuries, in yesterday's violent protests in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. The protest was organized by informal groups, but was supported by the main opposition parties from the Macedonian political block - VMRO-DPMNE and Levica. The participants oppose the European...

After the meeting with the members of the Security Council I said that after the French proposal is submitted to the Government , I expect to see in the Government's conclusions a statement that starting from the day we start and end the EU accession negotiations, if there are additional efforts from the Bulgarian authorities to impose questions...

The main actors in the process of counteracting the effects of the disinformation should be the institutions that are tasked with the creation of media policies, but also the media outlets and the journalists. Still, a systematic approach, with participation of several other factors is essential, said researcher Gjorgji Mitrevski at "The Situations and Challenges Related to the Influence...

The disinformation is directed against our Euro-Atlantic orientation; in particular, since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, North Macedonia is target of disinformation whose aim is to incite anti-Western sentiments among the citizens of North Macedonia and to promulgate hazy alternatives for the EU and NATO. Due to its potential to undermine the strategic orientation, the disinformation...

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, in an interview with Portalb.mk says that disinformation and propaganda are tools of war and that the Government treats them as such. He says that the state has difficulties in preventing the daily mass penetration of disinformation in the creation of public opinion. According to him, the fight against...

In 2021, 68% of the citizens supported the idea of North Macedonia becoming EU member-state, but the Macedonian citizens were not sufficiently informed about the trajectory and the time frame of the EU accession process itself. The perceived influence of EU in North Macedonia has dropped to the lowest ranking in the last several years - from 44.8% in 2019...

The news of the resignation of the prime minister of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, both from the government and from the helm of his SDSM political party has been broadcasted by the most influential international news agencies and media around the world. Zaev yesterday evening, just a few hours after the runoff local elections in North Macedonia, which brought a...

Regional CSOs networking in the Balkans has become an increasingly challenging effort for the most of organizations engaged in regional initiatives fostering human rights, democracy, good governance, rule of law, reconciliation or socio economic development. One can note at least three reasons for this unenviable situation facing both formal and informal regional CSO networks since 2020 – Covid 19...

Regionalno umrežavanje organizacija civilnog društva na zapadnom Balkanu postaje je sve značajniji izazov za većinu organizacija angažovanih na regionalnim inicijativama na unapređenju poštovanja ljudskih prava, demokratije, dobrog upravljanja, vladavine prava, pomirenja ili društvenog ekonomskog razvoja. Mogu se navesti najmanje tri razloga za nezavidnu situaciju sa kojom se suočavaju kako formalne tako i neformalne regionalne OCD mreže od 2020. godine:...

The Prime minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev yesterday, at the end of the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Brdo, Slovenia, in a statement for the media said that it is obvious that only one member of the EU – Bulgaria – objects to the start of the negotiations for accession of North Macedonia to the European Union (EU). He...

The construction of the first landfill in North Macedonia where the waste will be deposited and recycled in accordance with the European standards is long overdue. Even though the municipality of Sveti Nikole in February agreed to the establishment of the Public inter regional enterprise for waste management "EKO ISTOK- SEVEROISTOK," (Eco East-Northeast), the 18 municipalities in the Eastern...