Politics of the Republic of Macedonia

Opposition leader charged with conspiring to organize coup

SKOPJE -- The U.S. embassy in Skopje has said that it was following the criminal proceedings against Zoran Zaev "with concern."

Zaev, leader of the Social Democrats, was charged by police on Saturday with conspiring with a foreign intelligence service to topple the government.

The EU and US have urged Macedonia to follow due legal process following dramatic developments at the weekend when opposition leader Zoran Zaev was accused of attempting a coup.

Police have charged the Social Democrat leader with espionage and with making violent threats aimed at the government with the goal of undermining constitutional order.

The leader of Macedonia's main opposition Social Democratic Party, SDSM, has been ordered to remain in the country and his passport has been confiscated.

In a dramatic address carried on all main TV stations, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski on Saturday accused Zoran Zaev of attempting a coup.

BELGRADE - The second day of the Third Meeting of Heads of Government of China and Central and Eastern European Countries will be marked by a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings between the host and guests in Belgrade on Wednesday.

Macedonia's main opposition Social Democratic Party, SDSM, has come out against the country's proposed new coat of arms, saying the plan is being pushed as a distraction from the real problems.

"This is a typical example of how the government tries to shift public attention from the many affairs and scandals that they have to answer for," SDSM spokesperson Petre Shilegov said.

The main opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, expressed concern after the government recently announced fines ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 euro for failure to obtain energy efficiency certificates for households that undergo renovation.

...

Gruevski’s most trusted ministers will retain their posts, judging by the list of candidate-ministers that the Macedonian premier officially submitted to parliament on Sunday together with his platform for government.

After the former leader of Macedonian Social Democrats, SDSM, Branko Crvenkovski, urged Pendarovski to assume the party leadership from Zoran Zaev, the former presidential runner said he wished to distance himself from tensions inside the party ahead of its post-election congress on Saturday.

In his first interview since standing down as SDSM leader a year ago, Branko Crvenkovski said the opposition’s presidential candidate in the April elections should now lead the party out of its current travails.

Pendarovski, who was once a political advisor to Crvenkovski when he was head of state from 2004 to 2009, briefly told NOVA TV he had “no comment”.

Transparency International – Macedonia said it was filing criminal charges against the ruling VMRO DPMNE party and its junior government partner, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI.