Politics of the Republic of Macedonia

After a two-day stormy debate in the Assembly, Macedonia has a new government, headed by Zoran Zaev.

62 members of the assembly voted on favor, 44 were against, while five did not attend the sitting.

Zoran Zaev - Photo: AP

FYROM's (Macedonia) parliament has elected a new center-left coalition government led by former opposition leader Zoran Zaev, ending a six-month political stalemate.

Lawmakers voted 62-44 just before midnight Wednesday to confirm a 26-member Cabinet proposed by Zaev, who leads the Social Democrat party. Five lawmakers abstained and nine were absent.

Macedonia's new government was elected Wednesday night with the support of 62 MPs in the 120-seat parliament. Its establishment is expected to put an end to the prolonged political crisis in the country. The previous government, led by the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE party stood accused of allegations of wiretapping and corruption.
 

As Macedonia's likely new Culture Minister announces a complete halt to the quasi-baroque revamp of the capital known as Skopje 2014, architects have said they hope some of the historic buildings given new facades will be restored to their original state.

Zoran Zaev revealed the composition of his cabinet late Sunday, which parliament is expected to approved this week. Speaker of Parliament Talat Xhaferi has set the date for the session to start on Tuesday.

The key posts are to be shared between Zaev's Social Democratic Party, SDSM, and Macedonia's main ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI.

PHOTO: TANJUG / SAVA RADOVANOVIC

I didn't have much of an appetite, but everything else was good, Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday, about an informal dinner in Brussels the night before.

The gathering was organized by EU's Federica Mogherini and brought together six Western Balkans prime ministers.

Zoran Zaev - Photo: AP

Macedonian (FYROM) PM-designate and SDSM leader Zoran Zaev said in Brussels on Wednesday that he apologized to Serbian PM and President-elect Aleksandar Vucic.

Macedonian PM-designate and SDSM leader Zoran Zaev said in Brussels on Wednesday that he apologized to Serbian PM and President-elect Aleksandar Vucic.

"I expressed my regret for the carelessness of us politicians, before, during, or after the campaign. That was a moment of my carelessness," Zaev said, according Tanjug, which cited a MIA agency report.

Starting from Tuesday, the Social Democratic leader Zoran Zaev is holding a series of meetings with his coalition partners from the three main ethnic Albanian parties to align their stances on the future ministers in his cabinet.

On Monday, Zaev confirmed he was ready to start final talks about the ministers and sounded optimistic about the outcome.

REUTERS

The US didn't resolve Macedonia's crisis, it made it much worse, and the fate of the Balkans is now in jeopardy because of the latest American-brokered "deal".