Macedonia Press Review – January 3, 2013

DNEVNIK
Macedonia should not expect miracles from the Irish EU presidency, the daily wrote. Although Ireland announced it will strongly support the EU enlargement in the Balkans, observers say that it will have a hard time changing the unfavorable atmosphere towards this issue. For the fourth year in a row Greece prevents Brussels from offering a start date for Macedonia’s EU accession talks, despite a positive assessment and a recommendation contained in the European Commissions’ annual reports.  Greece objects to the name Macedonia, of its neighbor, insisting it implies territorial claims over its own northern province with the same name.

UTRINSKI VESNIK
Macedonia’s Journalists’ Association, ZNM, is not satisfied with the reply it got form the Interion Ministry regarding the ousting of journalists from parliaments’ plenary hall.  The ZNM has asked for responsibility from those who gave orders to expel journalists and those who cared that order on Monday, December 24. ZNM argued that the act represented an attempt for censorship that goes against article 16 of the constitution. The ministry replied that it is not in charge of assessing whether this act breached the constitution. On December 24 a political crisis escalated since the government parties passed a budget for 2013 in minutes after opposition MPs and journalists were kicked out of the parliament.

Balkan Insight has not verified the reports and cannot vouch for their accuracy.