Macedonia's Gruevski, Ahmeti Reach Coalition Deal

Political parties in Macedonia have reached an agreement on the country's new cabinet more than two weeks after the country held 2-in-1 elections.

Nikola Gruevski, Macedonias's Prime Minister and leader of ruling VMRO-DPMNE, and Ali Ahmeti, who heads the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), are to forge the upcoming government, according to Macedonia's daily Dnevnik.

A joint statement by the conservative VMRO-DPMNE, which was a clear winner in the polls, and the DUI, which came third, said that the main priorities of the next government would be "European integration, economic development, the implementation of reforms to improve the economic and social situation, the opening of new jobs and attraction of investments", according to Macedonia's daily Dnevnik.

The declaration also announces that a "joint two-party working group" will closely monitor activities in those ministries involved in the Euro-Atlantic process.

Ministries are still to be distributed between the conservatives and DUI.
Earlier this year, Gruevski called early elections to consolidate his party's decision-making position in Parliament.

Despite increasing support for his party at the vote, the Prime Minister turned out to be short of one MP seat (63 out of 64) to have a parliamentary majority and form his own government.

Albanian population is increasing in the country of two million, and different reports put its share between 25 and 30% of the total.