Skopje Mayor Petre Silegov ordered workers to remove the inscription “Macedonian Phalanx” from one of the newly built multi level parking garages in Skopje. The distinctly modernist building also houses a large supermarket and a posh restaurant.

This is the latest target of his attempts to remove the names of public institutions that evoke the history of Macedonia. Another of these garages, built as part of the Skopje 2014 project of urban renewal, that was named Todor Aleksandrov, was renamed by the city into BEKO – the name for the Yugoslav era “Belgrade Confection” company that used to be at that location.

Macedonia is under pressure from both Greece and to a lesser extent Bulgaria to rename institutions and alter its history if it wants to be allowed to join EU and NATO.