North Macedonia

The country said it would seek further assistance from the European Union to fight the forest fires that continue to burn out of control and have crossed the southern border with Greece

Germany insisted on the constitutional inclusion of Bulgarians for North Macedonia's path to the EU, after Skopje failed to meet expectations for constitutional changes

Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey sent planes and helicopters to North Macedonia to help firefighters who have been fighting a series of wild fires caused by high temperatures for several days

At the NATO summit in Washington, North Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski called his country 'Macedonia' and his government 'Macedonian'

Renewable energy investor Alcazar Energy Partners has launched the largest wind farm project in northern Macedonia, with an investment of at least $500 million to generate 400 megawatts of renewable energy

The new government will have five new ministries: the Ministry of Sports, the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Mineral Resources, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Digitalisation and the Ministry of State Administration

In a session that lasted until 3am, the North Macedonian Assembly passed a law paving the way for the restructuring of the government, providing for 20 ministries as opposed to the previous 16

The new government of North Macedonia will be formed by 20 June and the future Prime Minister is the leader of the VMRO-DPMNE - Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity - Hristijan Mickoski

Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, 70, will become the first female president of North Macedonia; she was the candidate of the nationalist opposition party VMRO-DPMNE, which also won the parliamentary elections

The resounding victory of the conservative candidate Gordana Siljanovska (41,2% to 20,5%) over outgoing president Stevo Pendarovski, supported by Socialist Party, in the first round of the presidential elections reflects a general rising nationalist trend

Ahead of the double parliamentary and presidential elections, the main opposition VMRO DPMNE party, which is expected to win the elections, wants to eliminate the mechanism that imposes quotas on ethnic minority employees in the public sector

The presidential election campaign has officially opened; among the candidates, some promise EU membership, some want to make North Macedonia proud and restore its dignity and others promise an uncompromising fight against corruption and crime