Macedonia Press Review ' March 15

DNEVNIK

Macedonians living in the USA will be able to declare themselves as such in the upcoming US census. The final number of Macedonians will not be part of the official census data but the figure will be used for the needs of the ethnic community. This is the explanation of the most influential organisation of Macedonians in the US, the United Macedonian Diaspora.

UTRINSKI VESNIK

Ali Ahmeti, the head of the junior government party- the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration, DUI - barely hide his nervousness at last week’s meeting with other party leaders, according to the daily. The paper added that he was silent throughout the meeting and even avoided the press afterwards.

Allegedly, the reason for his silence was the manner in which his party is being treated by the PM and head of the ruling party VMRO DPMNE, Nikola Gruevski, when it comes to important issues. The daily speculates that Ahmeti got advice from the US and EU diplomats to keep silent about this for awhile in order to give more time to the ongoing name negotiations with Greece.

VREME

The public discussions organised to discuss the controversial government project for a revamp of the capital, dubbed “Skopje 2014”, have turned into party organised monologues. The influence of the parties has killed the possibility of any real discussion about the project, the daily says.