Macedonia Eyes Reshuffle To Broaden Govt's Base

Talks aimed at broadening support in parliament for Zoran Zaev's fragile government in Macedonia have entered their final phase, and the outcome should be known within the next few days or next week.

Prime Minister Zaev has been holding parallel talks this week with the two opposing branches of the small BESA party as well as with Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, a source close to the Prime Minister told BIRN on Thursday.

"There is a positive atmosphere on all sides. Talks are focused on aligning the party platforms with that of the government as well as on the role they would take in the cabinet, meaning ministerial and other managerial posts," the source said.

The first dilemma for the Prime Minister is the split between two opposing camps inside the small ethnic Albanian BESA party. Both claim that they are the party's true representatives.

"BESA will probably get one ministerial post - but at the moment we do not know which one," Orhan Murtezani, from the branch led by Afrim Gashi, which controls three seats in parliament, said.

In tandem with these talks, Zaev is negotiating with the other branch of the party, which controls two seats and is led by Bilal Kasami.

One of these two MPs, Fadil Zendeli, on Wednesday hinted that that they also hope for a ministerial post.

"Our leader Kasami has asked the Prime Minister for a more concrete offer... about which areas the party could contribute to, and be part of the government. Nothing is concrete yet but both sides have expressed readiness [to cooperate]," Zendeli told the media.

Zaev's government rests on a wafer-thin majority, with the support of just 61 of the 120 MPs in the assembly. However, several other MPs who are not officially part...