FYROM took over from the Swiss yesterday, and the details of their presidency can be found on a special presidency website; the speech of the very young Macedonian foreign minister Antonio Miloshoski (who has studied in Germany) in front of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has been published there, too.
The Macedonian presidency wants to focus on three priorities, although I would estimate that the second is of particular interest for the Western Balkan country:
- Strengthening human rights protection
- Fostering integration while respecting diversity
- Promoting youth participation
That is going to be hard work, but let's wish FYROM as much success as possible!
Picture: @9899582@N05 / CC BY 2.0
4 comments:
Why yesterday? According to Wikipedia, the Council of Europe version of Europe Day, i.e. the anniversary of its establishment in 1949, is on May 5. So what's so special about May 11? It's not even a Monday, or otherwise it could be the first Monday after May 5th, which would more or less make sense.
No idea, but there is probably nothing special about that day, because it isn't the same every year (neither the change in May nor the change in November).
I suppose it has more to do with the day that the yearly Committee of Ministers' meetings can take place than with a symbolic date.
But I never thought about that.
You tend to forget. It is Republic of Macedonia. Macedonian Chairmanship 2010.
And don't worry, except the 11 EU countries, Holy See (or Vatican?) and three more, there is no sane person in the world that tries to rename a person and a country. Yes, Mandela used to have a number instead of name in prison and we do not forget Nazi concentration camps, do we? Should we?
For Kirov,
FYROM has signed an Agreement to use the name FYROM in international relations when it was admitted to the United Nations (New York Agreement 1995). There were important reasons why FYROM was accepted under that name. The CoE chairmanship is under the name of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Yes indeed, it would be welcome to see that FYROM respects the identity and history of the Macedonians, and that it adopts a name that reflects the fact, as it has agreed to do.
Since you referred to Nazi theories, perhaps you should help us understand why some Slavic and Albanian speaking people of FYROM wish to draw a connection to the Macedonians and to Macedonia, an ancient land which is today in Greece.
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