Macedonia Press Review ' May 19, 2010

DNEVNIK

The government will solve the status of the former fighters of the now disbanded National Liberation Army, NLA, as soon as possible, the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration said yesterday. They say it is possible that the issue will be resolved by the end of this week.

The party previously demanded state pensions for NLA veterans and their families but was unable to reach an agreement with the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party.

UTRINSKI VESNIK

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and his Greek counterpart George Papandreou Tuesday in Madrid had an informal meeting on the sidelines of the EU-Latin America and Caribbean Summit.

After the parley the Macedonian prime minister said that he remains neither a greater nor a lesser optimist regarding the prospects for resolving the Athens-Skopje name dispute, adding that he has been awaiting the end of the process for a long time.

VREME

The informal deadline for reaching a compromise in the name dispute between Athens and Skopje, which was thought to be within the period of the Spanish EU presidency which ends in June, is drawing to an end.

Yesterday’s meeting of Gruevski and Papandreou in Madrid coincides with speculations that UN mediator Matthew Nimetz will arrive in the region soon and comes just few days after the EU and the US upped the pressure on the countries to solve the spat.