Hahn Pushes for December Election in Macedonia

On his visit to Macedonia, Commissioner Hahn is expected to try to end the political games over the dissolution of parliament in time for elections in December, as well as boost efforts to change the law in order to help the new Special Prosecution investigate high-level crime.

The Enlargement Commissioner arrives in Macedonia two days after parliament failed to dissolve on Wednesday, threatening to delay the December 11 date for early elections that was agreed this summer in EU-mediated talks.

The EU-led agreement "is only the beginning: it is important that conditions for credible elections are fully in place and that citizens can freely participate", Hahn said on Thursday.

During his stay, Hahn will have separate talks with all the key leaders. He will also meet chief Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva and civil society representatives, "to discuss how to speed up implementation of urgent rule-of-law reforms".

Hahn said that he looked forward "to hearing from the Special Prosecutor about how her work is progressing and the challenges she is facing".

Instead of dissolving itself as planned, 60 days ahead of polling day, parliament continued its work on Wednesday and Thursday, putting the agreed election date in question.

The formal reasons for the delay were ongoing debates about the 2017 budget and the need to approve a new agreement on electoral districts.

Opposition-proposed changes to the law designed to improve the work of the Special Prosecution were also still on the parliamentary agenda, after being rejected by the ruling parties.

The opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, on Wednesday accused the ruling VMRO DPMNE party led by Nikola Gruevski of deliberately trying to keep parliament in...