Macedonia and Biometric Passports

Interesting tidbit about Macedonia (not to be confused with the delicious albeit expensive nut, Macadamia) and their move towards biometric passport technology…like it or not… Why? It was a condition for becoming an equal member EU state… The small and misunderstood Macedonia had to finish biometric reform and to hop on board with biometric passports for more effective identification of travelers between itself and European countries. Now here is where it gets interesting: At the time this condition was imposed some of the member of EU states didn’t have the biometric passports in the works, but this was given as a primary condition for this small state to be considered for the application proving once again that they probably don’t have any oil and are most likely lean on the cashola.
Interesting facts about Macedonia:
Population: 2,061,315 (July 2008 est.)
Capital: Skopje
National holiday: Ilinden Uprising Day, 2 August (1903),
also known as Saint Elijah’s Day