TIRANA, September 9 – North Macedonia has marked 31 years of independence with a military parade on the streets of the capital, Skopje.
The September 8 event was attended by President Stevo Pendarovski and Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski
Besides the military parade the celebrations included folk dancers, fire service rescuers, paramedics, and farmers who drove their tractors through the city center.
In a referendum on September 8, 1991, Macedonians voted to declare independence from Yugoslavia. One of seven new sovereign states created by the breakup of Yugoslavia, the country changed its name to North Macedonia in January 2019 after reaching agreement with Greece, which has a province called Macedonia.
Macedonia – as it was then known – was the only former Yugoslav republic to leave the federation peacefully in a region struck by a decade of wars.
North Macedonia along with Albania are still awaiting the formal start of membership talks with the European Union.
In the meantime Italian president Sergio Mattarella on Friday joined a long list of officials voicing support for North Macedonia joining the European Union together with other Western Balkan countries.
“Without the entry of the countries from the Western Balkans … unification of the continent will not be completed,” Mattarella said at a press conference in Skopje with North Macedonia’s President Stevo Pendarovski.
Mattarella paid an official visit to North Macedonia Friday for talks with the country’s leadership, and addressed lawmakers in Parliament.
Earlier Italian President paid a visit to Albania where he met his counterpart Bajram Begaj and PM Edi Rama. /Argumentum.al
