Macedonia's chief opposition figure claims that the prime minister and his counter-intelligence chief have been running massive wiretapping, monitoring the telephone conversations of 20,000 Macedonians, including journalists, activists, politicians and religious figures. Macedonia has been an official candidate for joining the EU since 2005, but negotiations have been blocked by Greece due to a dispute over the country’s name. Macedonian activists hope this last wiretapping scandal will help build international pressure to get the current government out of office.