In 2006, Croatian President Stjepan Mesić and his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski announced that the Croats would receive national minority status in Macedonia.
The Union of Croats in Macedonia (Croatian: Zajednica Hrvata u Republici Sjevernoj Makedoniji; Macedonian: Заедница на Хрватите во Македонија, romanized: Zaednica na Hrvatite vo Makedonija) is the name of an umbrella group which represents the ethnic Croats living in North Macedonia.
[1] It is headquartered in Skopje, with branches in Bitola, Štip and Ohrid-Struga.
[1] The Union has 1,187 members as of 2008[update],[1] which is approximately 45% of the entire Croat population in the Republic of Macedonia, according to the 2002 census.
[2] In 2005, along with the Croatian Heritage Foundation, the union organised the Week of Croats in Macedonia in Zagreb as part of its annual minority week.