Macedonia in Line for Busy Political Week

Talks with EU on key reforms, trials of politicians and the likely raising of new charges against former officials will make for a packed agenda in Macedonia this week.

First up on Monday is a planned visit by the EU Enlargement Commissioner, Johannes Hahn, who will attend a session of the new Social Democrat-led government - and give it some guidelines on the timetable by which the EU wants to see key reforms in place.

The focus on reforms will remain present when Macedonian leaders on Tuesday welcome the group of experts led by Reinhard Priebe who drafted the urgent reform priorities on behalf of the EU in 2015 - but which the previous government led by the VMRO DPMNE party never fulfilled.

Priebe arrives to review the situation and help determine short-term reform guidelines in areas such as the rule of law and the judiciary, media freedom and the fight against corruption.

Meeting these priorities will help Macedonia regain an EU recommendation to start accession talks - withdrawn under the last government.

Macedonia's new government, led by Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev, has pledged to turn a fresh page and revive the country's stalled Euro-Atlantic membership bids.

This means improving relations with neighbouring Greece and Bulgaria while resuming the thorough internal reforms that had previously been de-railed.

Top politicians expected in court:

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Zaev is summoned to appear before a court for allegedly soliciting about 200,000 euros in a bribe from a firm in Strumica, where he served as mayor.

The charges, which Zaev calls politically motivated, were filed in March 2015, two months after he and his Social Democratic Party, SDSM, then...