Fugging hell: tired of mockery, Austrian village changes name

 thegaurdian - Residents of an Austrian village will ring in the new year under a new name – Fugging – after ridicule of their signposts, especially on social media, became too much to bear.

They finally grew weary of Fucking, its current name, which some experts say dates back to the 11th century.

Minutes from a municipal council meeting published on Thursday showed that the village of about 100 people, 350km (215 miles) west of Vienna, will be named Fugging from 1 January 2021.

Increasing numbers of English-speaking tourists have made a point of stopping in to snap pictures of themselves by the signpost at the entrance to the village, sometimes striking lascivious poses for social media.

Some have reportedly even stolen the signposts, leading the local authorities to use theft-resistant concrete when putting up replacements.

Finally, a majority of the villagers decided they had had enough.

“I can confirm that the village is being renamed,” said Andrea Holzner, the mayor of Tarsdorf, the municipality to which the village belongs.

“I really don’t want to say anything more – we’ve had enough media frenzy about this in the past,” she told the regional daily Oberösterreichische Nachrichten (OOeN).

According to the Austrian daily Die Presse, the villagers, known as Fuckingers, “have had enough of visitors and their bad jokes”.

But not everybody seems happy about the impending change.

N. Macedonia becomes NATO’s 30th member

BRUSSELS — North Macedonia on Friday officially became the 30th member of the NATO military alliance.

“North Macedonia is now part of the NATO family, a family of 30 nations and almost 1 billion people. A family based on the certainty that, no matter what challenges we face, we are all stronger and safer together,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

North Macedonia’s flag will be raised alongside those of the other 29 member countries at NATO headquarters in Brussels and two other commands simultaneously on Monday.

Given the impact of the coronavirus around the world, Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski said “we cannot rejoice and mark the event as it should (be marked)… But, this is a historic success that after three decades of independence, finally confirms Macedonian security and guarantees our future. Congratulations to all of you! We deserve it!”

Anti-graft crusader sworn in as Slovakia's first female president

Bratislava (Reuters) - Anti-corruption campaigner Zuzana Caputova was sworn in as Slovakia’s first female president on Saturday, vowing to fight impunity and champion justice in a country shaken by a journalist’s murder last year.

The killing of Jan Kuciak, who investigated high-level graft cases, and his fiancé at their home last February sparked mass street protests and hit the approval ratings of the governing leftist party Smer.

Smer is still the most popular party but Caputova’s victory in the March presidential vote boosted the opposition liberal alliance Progressive Slovakia/Together, which backed her and aims to unseat the ruling party in a 2020 general election.

The pro-European coalition already won the EU Parliament election last month.

In her inauguration speech, Caputova, 45, said state officials that had proven incapable of stamping out corruption should lose their jobs and vowed to make the justice system work fairly for everyone.

“Under the constitution, people are free and equal in dignity and in rights, meaning nobody is that irrelevant to have their rights compromised, nor is anyone that powerful to stand above the law.”

“Too many people feel that this is not quite the reality in our country. The feeling of injustice has grown and has demonstrated itself in calls for change and decency but also in anger over ‘the system’,” she said in a nod to the rise to anti-system and far-right parties.

Ukraine election: Voters to choose between comedian and president

BBC - Ukrainians will head to the polls on Sunday in a run-off election to pick the country's next president.

Voters face a stark choice between incumbent President Petro Poroshenko and television comedian, and political newcomer, Volodymyr Zelensky.

The celebrity is favourite in the polls, having dominated the first round of voting three weeks ago when 39 candidates were on the ticket.

Poll stations will open 08:00 local (05:00 GMT) and close 12 hours later.

A court in the capital, Kiev, has rejected a lawsuit calling for Mr Zelensky to be barred from standing.

A man had complained that the distribution of free tickets for a presidential debate by Volodymyr Zelensky's candidacy amounted to bribery.

On Friday the two candidates appeared at Kiev's Olympic stadium to debate for the first time.

The televised event was their first face-off after an usual campaign where Mr Zelensky has primarily used social media to communicate with the voting public.

The winner of Sunday's vote will be elected for a five-year term as president.

The position holds significant powers over the security, defense and foreign policy of the country.

Brexit: UK and EU agree delay to 31 October

BBC - European Union leaders have granted the UK a six-month extension to Brexit, after late-night talks in Brussels.

The new deadline - 31 October - averts the prospect of the UK having to leave the EU without a deal on Friday, as MPs are still deadlocked over a deal.

European Council President Donald Tusk said his "message to British friends" was "please do not waste this time".

Theresa May, who had wanted a shorter delay, said the UK would still aim to leave the EU as soon as possible.

The UK must now hold European elections in May, or leave on 1 June without a deal.

The prime minister will later make a statement on the Brussels summit to the House of Commons, while talks with the Labour Party, aimed at reaching consensus on how to handle Brexit, are set to continue.

Mrs May tweeted: "The choices we now face are stark and the timetable is clear. So we must now press on at pace with our efforts to reach a consensus on a deal that is in the national interest."

So far, MPs have rejected the withdrawal agreement Mrs May reached with other European leaders last year and they have voted against leaving the EU without a deal.

The EU has ruled out any renegotiation of the withdrawal agreement.

Before the summit, Mrs May had told leaders she wanted to move the UK's exit date from this Friday to 30 June, with the option of leaving earlier if Parliament ratified her agreement.

Bosnia Herzegovina marks Independence Day

BELGRADE, Serbia

Bosnia Herzegovina on Thursday marked the 27th anniversary of its independence.

Independence Day is treated as an ordinary day in the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska, one of two constitutional and legal entities of the country. The other is the Bosniak-majority Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which observes the holiday.

Bosnia and Herzegovina became independent from the former Yugoslavia when an independence referendum was held on Feb. 29 and March 1, 1992.

Most Serbs boycotted the referendum while the 64 percent of the population voted for independence.

The results of the referendum were announced on March 6,1992 and Bosnia and Herzegovina was admitted to the United Nations on May 22,1992.

Bosnia and Herzegovina became an independent state, but had to suffer a bloody battle for independence and the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.

In the country, where Bosniak Muslims make up more than half of the population, the traces of the bloody war in 1992-1995 are still not completely erased. The complex political structure of the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the war, does not allow the country to fully stabilize.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's main objective is to become a member of the European Union.

The country expects to receive a "candidate country" status in the current year. NATO membership, which is another strategic target of the country has been impeded by the opposition of Serbs in the country.

North Macedonia notifies the world about its new name

SKOPJE, North Macedonia – The foreign ministry of newly renamed North Macedonia says it has formally informed the United Nations, U.N. member states and international bodies that its new name has come into effect under a historic deal to end a long dispute with neighboring Greece.

The ministry said in a press release late Thursday it submitted relevant notes to "the United Nation's Protocol, member and observer states, and to all international, multilateral and regional organizations."

The country was officially renamed North Macedonia on Tuesday, and as a first move to reflect the change, authorities have replaced road signs on the border with Greece.

The move is a precursor to a series of steps that the renamed country will take as part of the agreement, including changing airport signs, web pages and printed materials.

DRAMA:France recalls Italy ambassador after worst verbal onslaught 'since the war'

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron’s government recalled its ambassador to Rome on Thursday in a move unprecedented since World War Two, saying it was fed up with “repeated, baseless” attacks by Italian political leaders against France.

The diplomatic blow, highly unusual among fellow members of the European Union, was announced by the foreign ministry in a statement. Diplomatic sources said Paris acted after a series of verbal assaults from Italy’s deputy prime ministers, capped by Luigi di Maio, head of the anti-establishment 5-Star movement, meeting this week with France’s “yellow vest” protesters, who have mounted a months-long anti-Macron campaign.

“France has been, for several months, the target of repeated, baseless attacks and outrageous statements,” the foreign ministry said.

“Having disagreements is one thing, but manipulating the relationship for electoral aims is another,” it added, calling Italy’s behaviour the worst of its kind since World War Two, when Benito Mussolini declared war on France in 1940.

Germany and France Renew Their Vows, but Challenges Abound

nytimes.com BERLIN — When it was originally signed in 1963, in the long wake of World War II and with the Cold War deepening, the Élysée Treatyserved to reconcile Germany and France and establish their relationship as “an indispensable stage on the way to a united Europe.”

On Tuesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Emmanuel Macron of France met in a German city symbolic to both — Aachen, or Aix-la-Chapelle in French — to renew that commitment for the 21st century, in a ceremony that nevertheless served as a reminder of the daunting array of challenges threatening Europe today.

The leaders and their countries, former enemies who lost millions in wars last century, form the staunchly pro-Europe core of the Continent. But with Ms. Merkel already on a glide path out of powerand Mr. Macron severely weakened by popular protests at home, their simultaneous decline is threatening to leave a crater at the center of Europe’s decades-old project of unity.

Internal and external forces continue to raise the prospect of a fracturing of the European Union. Britain is scheduled to leave the bloc on March 29. The Trump administration is threatening tariffs and questioning Washington’s commitment to NATO. Populist governments in Hungary and Poland are challenging fundamental principles of liberal democracy and the rule of law, and Italy is challenging traditional liberal values.

Brexit pressure rises, but UK government says no to second vote

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s government is not preparing for a second referendum on Brexit, ministers said on Sunday, sticking to the script that Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal could still pass through parliament with a few changes.

May delayed a vote last week on her agreement to leave the European Union because she was set to lose in parliament and has tried to secure “assurances” from the bloc to try to better sell it to skeptical lawmakers. Brussels said last week it was ready to help but warned her that she could not renegotiate the deal.

With less than four months before Britain is due to leave in March, Brexit, the biggest shift in trade and foreign policy for more than 40 years, is proving anything but smooth, complicated by the deep divisions in parliament and across the country.

With May facing deadlock in parliament over the deal and the EU offering little so far, more politicians are talking about the possibility of Britain leaving without an agreement or a second referendum that could stop Brexit from happening.

Asked if the government was preparing for a vote, education minister Damian Hinds told Sky News: “No, a second referendum would be divisive. We’ve had the people’s vote, we’ve had the referendum and now we’ve got to get on with implementing it.”

Trade minister Liam Fox also said a second referendum would “perpetuate” the deep divisions in Britain, adding that the prime minister was securing the necessary assurances to persuade parliament to back her deal.

He said that would take some time.

“It will happen over Christmas, it’s not going to happen this week, it’s not going to be quick, it will happen some time in the New Year,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show.

But the longer it takes, voices urging a change of tack are getting louder and the pressure on the main opposition Labour Party to move against the government is rising.

Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign minister, said if Britain wanted to put an “entirely new” Brexit proposal forward the government would most likely have to delay its departure.

May survived a no confidence vote among her Conservative lawmakers last week, but opposition parties are calling for Labour to propose a parliamentary motion of no confidence against the government this week.

Merkel's party votes for new leader, and new era in Germany

HAMBURG (Reuters) - Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats vote on Friday to decide who replaces her as party leader and moves into pole position to succeed her as German chancellor.

The frontrunners are Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a Merkel protege seen as the continuity candidate, and Friedrich Merz, a Merkel rival who has questioned the constitutional guarantee of asylum to all “politically persecuted” and believes Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, should contribute more to the European Union.

Merkel said in October she would step down as party chief but remain chancellor, an effort to manage her exit after a series of setbacks since her divisive decision in 2015 to keep German borders open to refugees fleeing war in the Middle East.

The new CDU leader will be chosen by 1,001 delegates who vote at a party congress in Hamburg. The winner will likely lead the CDU in the next federal election due by October 2021.

Former Yugoslav Republic of Croatia celebrates 27th Independence Day

- Croatia celebrates the unanimous decision of the Croatian Parliament back on 8 October 1991 to terminate the link between Croatia and SFR Yugoslavia today on Monday, 8 October 2018.

The Croatian referendum on independence was held in May 1991, with 93% of voters supporting the independence.

On 25 June the Croatian Sabor proclaimed the Croatian independence and seven days later, on 7 July, Croatia and Slovenia signed the Brioni Declaration in which the two countries agreed to suspend all declarations and acts passed by the Croatian and Slovenian parliaments related to those states’ secession from Yugoslavia for a period of three months.

On 8 October, the Sabor decided to end relations with Yugoslavia, in the decision on the termination of the state and legal ties with other republics and provinces of Yugoslavia.

That session was not held in the House of Parliament but instead in the basement of an INA building, because of the possibility of the repeat of an incident such as the bombing of Banski dvori.

Independence Day was celebrated for the first time on 8 October back in 2002. Statehood Day is commemorated on 25 June.

President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović congratulated citizens with this message.

By the decision of the Croatian Parliament on 8 October 1991, following centuries of struggles, finally and irrevocably, under the resolute leadership of the first President Dr. Franjo Tuđman, and thanks to the courage of our defenders, we have realized our historical aspiration for State independence.

We are proud of our democratic State is known worldwide today thanks to the many international achievements of our citizens. We are a responsible member of numerous international organizations and integrations. Throughout the years of independence, we have achieved brilliant successes in many areas of state and social development, but we know that we have remarkable development potential and that is why we want much more and much better. We want a state in which everyone will be valued on the basis of their work and their contribution to the common good, in which our children and youth will have guaranteed prospects for quality education, employment and equitable pay, and in which families will have all the necessary conditions for having and raising children. We want a Croatia in which there will be more patriotic communion, solidarity and mutual respect.

We have a history that inspires us and a future that commits us.

In the wish to persevere in the realization of the noblest aspiration, to all Croats and to all the citizens at home and abroad, I cordially congratulate Independence Day of the Republic of Croatia.

Macedonians vote in referendum on whether to change country's name

SKOPJE (Reuters) - The people of Macedonia voted in a referendum on Sunday on whether to change its name to ‘Republic of North Macedonia’, a move that would resolve a decades-old dispute with Greece which had blocked its membership bids for the European Union and NATO.

Greece, which has a province called Macedonia, maintains that its northern neighbor’s name represents a claim on its territory and has vetoed its entrance into NATO and the EU.

The two governments struck a deal in June based on the proposed new name, but nationalist opponents argue the change would undermine the ethnic identity of Macedonia’s Slavic majority population.

President Gjorge Ivanov has said he will not be voting in the referendum and a boycott campaign has cast doubts on whether turnout will meet the minimum 50 percent required for the referendum to be valid.

The question on the referendum ballot read: “Are you for NATO and EU membership with acceptance of the agreement with Greece”.

Supporters of the name change, including Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, argue that it is a price worth paying to pursue admission into bodies such as the EU and NATO for Macedonia, one of the countries to emerge from the collapse of Yugoslavia.

“I came today to vote for the future of the country, for young people in Macedonia so they can be live freely under the umbrella of the European Union because it means safer lives for all of us,” said Olivera Georgijevska, 79, in Skopje.

Although not legally binding, enough members of parliament have said they will abide by the vote’s outcome to make it decisive. The name change would requires a two-thirds majority in parliament.

Amazon workers strike in Germany, joining action in Spain and Poland

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Thousands of workers will walk off the job on Tuesday at Amazon warehouses in Germany to demand better working conditions, joining colleagues in Spain and Poland in taking action that coincides with a major sales promotion.

The Verdi services union called the one-day strike to back its demand for labor contracts that guarantee healthy working conditions at fulfilment centers run by the world’s largest e-commerce company.

“The message is clear - while the online giant gets rich, it is saving money on the health of its workers,” said Stefanie Nutzenberger, Verdi’s top official responsible for the retail sector.

The one-day strike at six facilities in Germany coincides with Seattle-based Amazon’s Prime Day promotion. Workers in Spain are out on a three-day strike, meanwhile, while in Poland they are staging a work to rule, Verdi said.

Amazon said it expected only a fraction of its 12,000 workers in Germany to join the strike, and that there would be no impact on Prime Day deliveries.

It also said Amazon fulfilment center jobs offered competitive pay and comprehensive benefits from the first day of employment. Permanent staff earn 12.22 euros ($14.31) an hour or more after two years.

“We believe Amazon’s Fulfillment Center jobs are excellent jobs providing a great place to learn skills to start and further develop a career,” the company said in comments emailed to Reuters.

Germany is Amazon’s second largest national market after the United States. Net sales grew by 20 percent last year to $17 billion, accounting for 9.5 percent of the total, according to the company’s annual report.


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Macron: political divisions in Europe are like a civil war

Emmanuel Macron has likened the political divisions in Europe to a civil war and warned against growing illiberalism on the continent.

In his first speech to the European parliament, the French president called for the defence of a European liberal democracy that offered protection of the rights of its minorities, and attacked those who took their countries out of the EU to pursue fairytale “adventures”.

“I am for the most integrated and closest possible relationship after Brexit, and there’s a well-known solution – it’s called EU membership,” he said.

The vast majority of the speech was, however, about the future without the UK, and the need for the 27 other EU member states to be united in opposition to the emergence of the nationalist authoritarian traits of the past.

Without naming the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who recently won a landslide victory after a campaign that played on voters’ fears of immigration, Macron was scathing of politicians who scapegoated migrants.

“There seems to be a certain European civil war: national selfishness and negativity seems to take precedence over what brings us together. There is a fascination with the illiberal, and that is growing all the time,” he told MEPs.

“In the future, we must struggle to defend our ideals ... This is a democracy that respects individual minority fundamental rights, which used to be called liberal democracy, and I use that term by choice. The deadly tendency which might lead our continent to the abyss, nationalism, giving up of freedom: I reject the idea that European democracy is condemned to impotence.

“I don’t want to belong to a generation of sleepwalkers, I don’t want to belong to a generation that’s forgotten its own past,” he said.

Three decades on, Greece, Macedonia sign pact to change ex-Yugoslav republic's name

PRESPES, Greece/ BITOLA, Macedonia (Reuters) - Greece and Macedonia defied protests and set aside three decades of dispute on Sunday as they agreed on a new name for the Balkan state, potentially paving the way for Macedonia’s admission to the European Union and NATO.

The foreign ministers of Greece and Macedonia signed an accord to rename the former Yugoslav republic the “Republic of North Macedonia,” despite a storm of protest over a deal seen as a national sellout by some on both sides.

In the idyllic setting of Prespes, a lake region that borders Greece, Macedonia and Albania, officials from the two countries embraced, shook hands and penned a deal in the presence of European and United Nations officials.

The agreement still requires the approval of both parliaments and a referendum in Macedonia. That approval is far from assured, as it faces stiff opposition from the Greek public, and Macedonia’s president has vowed to block the deal.

“We have a historic responsibility that this deal is not held in abeyance, and I am confident that we will manage it,” Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said as he and his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev received a standing ovation from guests at the lakeside ceremony.

Tsipras survived a no-confidence vote mounted by Greece’s opposition in parliament on Saturday, but the depth of public emotion against the deal is strong.

In the Macedonian city of Bitola not far from the Greek border, protesters wrapped in national flags chanted “This is Macedonia” and began to march across the city.

“This shameful deal will not pass, we will defend Macedonia’s name and pride,” said Petre Filipovski, 40, dressed in the trademark red T-shirt of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party.

In the Greek village of Pisoderi, protesters carried a giant Greek flag and one group clashed with riot police on a mountain slope as they tried to break the cordon. Others chanted the Greek national anthem.

Up to 70 percent of Greeks object to the compromise, an opinion poll by the Proto Thema newspaper showed on Saturday. In Psarades, the tiny lakeside community where the deal was signed, the village church bell tolled in mourning, draped in a Greek flag. ContinueReading

Macedonia's president said he will not accept his country's name change

- Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said Wednesday he would not support an agreement reached between his country's prime minister and Greece to change the Balkan country's name.

Just hours after the deal was announced, Ivanov told reporters at a televised news conference that "such a harmful agreement, which is unique in the history of mankind, is shameful and unacceptable for me."

Prime ministers of the two countries had agreed earlier this week to refer to Macedonia as the Republic of Northern Macedonia, or Severna Makedonija in the Macedonian language, which would effectively end a 27-year feud between the two nations. The name change is an effort to prevent territorial claims to Greece's northern region of Macedonia.

However, Ivanov remained firm on his position, saying that the agreement gave too many concessions to Greece.

"My position is final and I will not yield to any pressure, blackmail or threats. I will not support or sign such a damaging agreement," he said.

The president is backed by the nationalist opposition group VMRO-DPMNE, whose leader Hristijan Mickoski said the party will "oppose this deal of capitulation with all democratic and legal means."

The capital of Skopje adopted the name of Macedonia in 1991 following its independence from former Yugoslavia, and Greece vetoed the country's bid to join NATO and the European Union over the name dispute. Ending the feud would open up the possibility for Macedonia to become a member of Europe, a goal Macedonia has held since it applied for full membership in 2004.

Plastic fantastic?: EU Proposes a Total Ban on Plastic Forks and Other Products

bloomberg.com - The European Commission proposed a total ban on some single-use plastic products and measures to drastically cut the consumption of others, in the latest push by the EU to reduce carbon emissions and marine litter threatening its seas.

The ban will apply to plastic cotton buds, cutlery, plates, straws, drink stirrers and sticks for balloons, according to the proposal unveiled on Monday and is subject to approval by EU governments and the European Parliament. Member states will also be forced to reduce the use of plastic food containers and drink cups by prohibiting their free-of-charge distribution.

“Plastic can be fantastic but we need to use it more responsibly,” Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen said in a statement. “Today’s proposals will help business and consumers to move towards sustainable alternatives.”

The measures come as the EU seeks to seize leadership in creating sustainable goods, a market that is worth 2.5 trillion euros ($2.9 trillion), according to Unilever. With some plastic possibly taking 1,000 years to decompose, the EU proposes for companies to set up re-use systems such as deposit refund schemes to ensure a stable supply of high quality material.

Under the commission’s proposal, member states will have to collect 90 percent of single-use plastic drink bottles by 2025. Producers will also be required to chip in the cost of waste management and label how waste will be disposed, “the negative environmental impact of the product, and the presence of plastics in the products.”

The proposed directive aims to save consumers a projected 6.5 billion euros a year as of 2025, and the emission of 3.4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, according to the commission.

Macedonian PM says Greece agrees to discuss proposed name

abcnews- Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said Saturday (May 19) he is ready to go ahead with a new name for his country in order to solve a centuries-long name dispute with Greece and pave the way for full integration of the small Balkan country into the European Union and NATO.

But Greek political leaders briefed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras rejected the Macedonian proposal outright and the Greek government itself, in a response to Zaev's remarks, was evasive about the particular name proposal.

Zaev said that "Republic of Ilindenska Macedonia" is the compromise name acceptable to both sides. The adjective "Ilindenska," meaning, literally, "the day of the prophet Elijah" refers to a 1903 uprising against Turkish occupiers.

"With this possible solution, we preserve the dignity, we confirm and strengthen our Macedonian identity," Zaev said, but added that final say on the new name will be put to a referendum.

Zaev reiterated that Macedonia has no territorial claims to its southern neighbour and confirmed the inviolability of the borders. "Macedonia is ready to confirm this in all necessary ways," Zaev said.

Macedonia was a part of the former Yugoslavia and declared independence in 1991. Greece claims the country's name implies territorial designs on its northern province of Macedonia.

He also said that with the new name proposal "we make a complete distinction with the Macedonia region in Greece".

In Athens, premier Tsipras briefed Greece's president and opposition leaders. All the opposition leaders said the name "Ilinden Macedonia" was unacceptable because, as Communist Party leader Dimitris Koutsoumbas said, it is "neither a geographical nor a temporal" designation, as agreed in nearly two decades of talks mediated by the United Nations. Some opposition leaders called the proposal a provocation on Macedonia's part.

A statement released by the Greek government reflected its ambivalence about the name.

"We welcome the acceptance by (the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) that a solution to the nomenclature cannot exist without the adoption of ... a name for all uses," the statement said, meaning that Macedonians could not simply call their country "Macedonia" domestically, while having another name for international use.

"However, we encourage our neighbours to continue working together to find a commonly accepted name with a geographical or temporal designation, just as the package of proposals tabled by the U.N Special Envoy, Matthew Nimetz, also provides," the Greek statement added.

Zaev did not have an easy time with his country's opposition leaders, either.

The leader of the main conservative opposition VMRO-DPMNE party Hristijan Mickoski said after meeting with Zaev that his party is against the name change. He reiterated that his party will not support a change of the constitution and of Macedonia's constitutional name "Republic of Macedonia".

Zaev has urged Macedonians to support the proposed name.

That was quick: Macedonia's main opposition party rejects proposal for new country name

ETA Formally Ends Armed Fight, but Spain Vows to Prosecute

MADRID (AP) — Basque separatist group ETA publicly declared its dissolution Thursday, bringing an end to a campaign against Spain that saw more than 850 people killed over more than four decades of bombings and shootings.

In an open letter to the Basque people, ETA said it has "completely dismantled all of its structures" and "will no longer express political positions, promote initiatives or interact with other stakeholders."

Its announcement was dismissed as propaganda by victims' groups, while the Spanish government said it would continue to prosecute anyone with any links to any of the violence conducted during the ETA campaign, which blighted Spain's transition to democracy from the late 1970s onwards.

ETA formally announced its dissolution in a letter read out at the headquarters of a conflict resolution group in Geneva. That came a day after the group's intentions were known in a separate leaked letter that had been sent in April to the Basque regional government, workers' unions and others.

David Harland, the executive director of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, which has been involved in peace negotiations between ETA and the Spanish government dating back to 2004, told The Associated Press that Thursday's announcement was a "unilateral" move by the group.

Basque-language website naiz.eus also published audio with the voices of two well-known ETA members, Josu Urrutikoetxea — also known as Josu Ternera — and Marixol Iparragirre, reading the letter's content.

In response, the Spanish government vowed to continue prosecuting the organization's militants who had sought to create a new Basque homeland in northern Spain and southern France.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy stuck to his government's hard line and called ETA's disbanding "noise and propaganda."

"Whatever ETA does or says, it won't find any loophole for impunity," Rajoy said. "ETA can announce its disappearance, but its crimes or the action of the judiciary won't disappear."

ETA, which stands for "Basque Homeland and Freedom" in the Basque language and was born in 1958, carried out bombings, shootings and kidnappings, most of them after Spain transitioned to democracy from the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco after his death in 1975.

Related:  What’s next for Basques and Spain after ETA’s end?