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Bordered by Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, and Albania to the west, Macedonia is a country of just over 2 million people. Its president, Gjorge Ivanov, is a member of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity party. This party is non-Euroskeptic but also wants to join NATO. Fortunately, power is kept balanced in the legislative branch, which represents the interests of five political parties, where IMRO-DPMNU receives a plurality. This legislative branch appoints the judges of the judicial branch.

Macedonia's relation with Greece is stressed at best. Greece does not want Macedonia to call itself Macedonia, as Macedonia is also a region of northern Greece, and calling this nation Macedonia unintentionally makes a claim to this land in Greece's eyes. This is why Macedonia is referred to as the Former Yugoslav Republic, but I still dispute why this fact would be the distinguishing characteristic. The country has a large minority (25😵 of Albanians who are treated relatively unfairly. Although they are allowed to learn Albanian, they must take aptitude tests including Macedonians.

One huge political issue with the current Macedonian leaders is that the unemployment rate is over 35%. However, the income tax rate is accelerating growth; a 10% tax rate has yielded an accelerating growth of 3.1% in 2005, 5.1% per year in 2006-2010, and an inflation rate of only 2%. If these rates remain unchanged, the current economic state may topple very soon.

Lastly, Macedonia's capital, Skopje, is home to over 25% of the Macedonian population. (Hmmm... wonder if they're all Albanian and everyone elsewhere is Macedonian? 🙂

Devon