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Macedonia/FYROM: the unresolved dispute over a name
Since this Balkan republic became independent in 1990-1991 in the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, there has been a dispute over its name: Athens says it should only refer to the Greek region of Macedonia while the government in Skopje adopted it as the name of its own country, the Republic of Macedonia. As a result, the United Nations recognised the new country in 1993 as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). This title was subsequently adopted by other international organisations, including the European Union and Nato. Currently, 118 states, from the US to Russia and from China to Italy, recognise the country as the Republic of Macedonia or simply Macedonia while all the others regard it as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Macedonia (adopting this name for the sake of brevity) today is a country of slightly more than 2 million people, of whom about 600,000 live in and around the capital. The inhabitants are spread over an area of 28,000 square kilometres, about the same as the island of Sicily, giving a population density of only 79 people per square kilometre, compared with 196 in Italy. It borders Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece, even though the geographical region of Macedonia falls into all these countries. Apart from the capital, other towns with more than 50,000 inhabitants are Bitola, Kumanovo, Prilep and Tetovo. In terms of politics, Macedonia is a monocameral parliamentary republic – the prime minister is 37-year-old Nikola Gruevski – while from an administrative point of view it is divided into 78 municipalities. The political battleground still revolves around ethnic questions with the issue of the balance of power between the majority Macedonians and the Albanian minority leading to a brief civil war in 2001. Internationally, the country is part of the United Nations and is a candidate to join Nato and the European Union. Now that the harsh economic crisis that came in the wake of independence has passed, Macedonia has seen good levels of economic growth since 2002. Still, gross domestic product is still low by European standards at 6.3 billion dollars at current prices in 2007, a 4.7% gain on 2006 and representing 3,039 dollars pro capita. According to industry estimates, Macedonia could generate 4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year in carbon credits. The CDM projects identified by the ministry fall into the following categories: waste management (biogas recovery at landfill sites and stock farms), renewable energy (wind, biomass and geothermal), energy efficiency (upgrading of a university hospital and street lighting), fuel switching (moving from oil to gas at a thermal power station) and carbon sinks (forestation project in central Macedonia). Contacts IN ITALy Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea In macedonia: GIORGIO MATTIELLO Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea
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