The decision of the Ministers for European Affairs to open accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia is good news in difficult times, assessed the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Alternate Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis also made a similar assessment, who stated that “this is an important day for the European Union, and the decision to open accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania confirms the strategic agenda “Thessaloniki 2003”.
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Republic of North Macedonia will receive 69 million euros from the EU for dealing with the situation with the coronavirus, announced Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Dimitrov.
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The news from Brussels for the start of negotiations for EU membership is verification of the success of our efforts, the end of our 15 years of waiting after receiving a candidate status for EU membership and recognition for the results achieved, stated Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski. The President of Parliament, Talat Xhaferi, congratulated the citizens on the decision of the EU Council to open accession negotiation with our country.
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The Date– another lost battle for lunatics, another victory for our better future, writes Petrit Saracini in his column for CIVIL MEDIA.
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Congratulations on the EU decision, North Macedonia to start negotiations for membership, have flooded social networks, with thousands of positive reactions.
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We do not have to wait for a ministerial meeting for our membership in NATO to be confirmed, but our membership becomes both de jure and de facto the moment when we send our ratified protocol in Washington, after the other member states have done so. Practically, the moment when it will be received and activated in the State Department is the moment when the RNM becomes the 30th member of NATO, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Radmila Sekerinska.
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Sekerinska reacted at a press conference to Igor Janusev from VMRO-DPMNE and urged them to stop with lies.
– I most directly deny the lie that is clearly a lie to every citizen who can put two and two together. It is a lie that anyone, especially me, in the past week, imagine, have been on business trips and have spent state money on trips and representations. It concerns the same week when the Skopje Airport was mainly closed. It is the same week when every well-intentioned, and even ill intended citizens, who open Facebook and click, could see that I, like all other colleagues, am present every day at the Main Headquarters and at the government session, said Sekerinska.
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The youngest patient with coronavirus in the country is a two-year-old child from Skopje, confirmed Minister of Health Venko Filipce. He said that the parents of the child are also positive for coronavirus, but that they are all with mild symptoms and are treated at home. The family has been infected as a result of local transmission. In Skopje there are seven and in Kumanovo five new coronavirus cases.
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Transport between Kumanovo and the rest of the cities is being suspended, public transport within Kumanovo is suspended and all shops that are in semi-closed shopping malls in Kumanovo are being closed, announced Minister of Health Venko Filipce at today’s press conference.
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Three members of the Ministry of Interior are infected with coronavirus. One is a police officer in police station – Bit Pazar, the second one is from forensics and the third person, who was confirmed today, is from the public procurement unit within the Ministry of Interior.
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The Ministry of Interior will take most serious actions against all those who will publish on the social networks fake news that will cause uneasiness and panic among citizens.
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The transfusion department in Ohrid is closed because the staff has been in contact with a person who as a patient had come through the system “My Appointment” (Moj termin) and after several days had developed symptoms and is now diagnosed with coronavirus, informed Minister of Health Venko Filipce at a press conference.
Dehran Muratov
Translation: N. Cvetkovska