Ali Ahmeti

Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov will discuss bilateral relations with Macedonia and ways for resolving the political crisis there during a working visit to the neighbouring country on 14 and 15 June, the foreign ministry in Sofia has announced.

Mitov will meet with Macedonia's President Gjorge Ivanov, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki.

About 2,000 ethnic Albanians marched in Macedonia's capital, Skopje, on Saturday, demanding redefinition of their status and the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, newswires reported.

The marchers also called for the resignation of Gruevsi's junior government coalition partner, the ethnic Albanian DUI led by Ali Ahmeti, to open the way for early elections.

The focus of the protest will be the controversial case, called Monster by the authorities, in which six ethnic Albanians were jailed for life for killing five fishermen. Besa [Oath] insists that the trial was a politically motivated set-up by Gruevski.

Hahn is due to meet Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and opposition Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss an agreement on a transitional period that will lead up to snap elections by next April.

No early elections will be held in Macedonia by end-April 2016 if there is no agreement on a transitional government by June 10, the country's Nova TV channel revealed on Tuesday.

Zoran Zaev, leader of Macedonia's opposition Social Democrats, expects the political crisis in the country to be resolved by the end of June.

A third meeting of Macedonian political leaders has failed to produce any tangible results, local media outlets say.

Heads of four parties held another round of talks in the country's capital Skopje amid a political crisis, with socialist opposition leader Zoran Zaev demanding the government's resignation in a wiretapping scandal.

Macedonian leaders meet in Skopje on Tuesday for talks on the country's crisis facilitated by the US ambassador, Jess Baily, and the EU ambassador, Aivo Orav.

The second meeting of the leaders of Macedonia's four biggest political parties aimed at resolving the political crisis in the country ended inconclusively on Monday, telma.mk reported.

The leaders agreed to meet again on 26 May.

The leaders of Macedonia's four biggest political parties met on Monday in a fresh attempt to ease tensions and find a way for resolving the months-long political crisis.