Macedonia

The Government has adopted 31 of 103 laws within the national program for adoption of the EU Acquits for 2010.

Vice Premier for European Affairs Vasko Naumovski said Wednesday that majority of the adopted laws have been transferred from the 2009 program, and refer to the areas of finance, agriculture, food safety, transport and communications, environment protection etc.

"The adoption of these laws demonstrates the Government's commitment in the process of the legislation harmonization within the general process of the country's EU approximation", stressed Vice Premier Naumovski.

I don't share the optimism of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou about a possibility for swift settlement of the name row, Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki says in an interview with BBC - Macedonian language program.

Our optimism, reality or pessimism is based on the experience we have been having in regard to the cooperation with Greece for the last 18 years, particularly in regard to this matter.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski together with Culture Minister Elizabeta Kanceska-Milevska attended Sunday the opening of an annual exhibition of artefacts excavated at archaeological sites across the country in 2009.

The amount that was excavated this year is small. There is a lot more to be done. The Government will continue to support nation-wide excavations, because artefacts are national and cultural treasure. In 2010 we plan to continue our support in this field, stated PM Gruevski after the opening at the Museum of Macedonia.