18:00/October 7/2021 Athens – President Stevo Pendarovski shares in an interview with MIA his impressions and messages from the meetings with counterpart Sakellaropoulou and PM Mitsotakis, the Prespa Agreement and the possible resistance from Greece, opportunities for cooperation, energy and the possible return visit of the Greek President to Skopje. At the end of the first official visit by a country’s President to Greece, Pendarovski says bilateral relations are taking a normal course, although this is only the beginning of a long-term process, expecting the dynamics to develop while adding that the tempo is promising. Skopje - Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on Thursday said he believed a solution could be found with Bulgaria by the end of December because the duty of politicians was to point the way to the future instead of remaining stuck in the past. “I’d never seen Chancellor [Angela] Merkel and President [Emmanuel] Macron so insistent, so precise, so clear as they were while talking to me and President [Rumen] Radev about the next step in this direction,” he said in response to a reporter asking him if the EU leaders were sincerely trying to help solve the problem. Skopje – The issue of the short name, tackling hate speech, rehabilitation of communism victims, work of the historical commission, non-interference in the internal affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria, along with the incorporation of the Bulgarians in the Constitution, are the five plus one points that are continually discussed with Bulgaria within the efforts to overcome the dispute and unblock North Macedonia’s accession negotiations. The demand to incorporate the Bulgarian community in the Constitution is not contrary to our interests, because the country has never had problems in recognizing various ethnic groups who are able to manifest their identity, cultural and historic traits, said Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani on Thursday. Skopje – North Macedonia registered on Thursday 393 new COVID-19 infections after 2,974 tests were carried out in the past 24 hours. Citing Public Health Institute’s report, the Health Ministry said there were 20 fatalities in the same time period and 397 people who have recovered from the virus. Of the new cases, Skopje reported 187, said the press release. Brussels – The European Commission told MIA on Thursday that member-states can in no case interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries, be it EU members or not. MIA asked EC Spokesperson Dana Spinant about yesterday’s statement by Bulgarian President Rumen Radev in Slovenia that he expected 120,000 people to be counted as Bulgarians at the Census in North Macedonia. Moscow – The Kremlin on Thursday blasted NATO’s decision to strip eight Russian diplomats of their accreditation at the military alliance’s headquarters in Brussels.