Zoran Zaev

After an hour of talks in Skopje, Macedonia's political leaders agreed to honour the snap election deal brokered on June 2 during the visit to Skopje of the EU Enlargement Commissioner, Johannes Hahn, as a basis for future talks.

Hahn has extracted an agreement on a transition period leading up to snap elections that must take place by next April.

The meeting, which comes after last week's failure to strike a deal about a transitional government at the talks in Brussels, is expected to gather leaders of the four main political parties as well as the EU and US ambassadors to the country, Aivo Orav and Jess Baily.

Speaking at a press conference in Skopje on Tuesday, Macedonian Social Democrat leader Zaev said that ongoing EU-mediated talks with Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski must result in Gruevski stepping down at least six months before new elections are held.

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.

Macedonia's government and opposition leaders have failed to achieve a breakthrough in their talks to resolve the country's political crisis, the European Commission said.

After an intense day of EU-mediated talks in Brussels on Wednesday, there is still no agreement between the Macedonian government and the opposition on ending the deep political crisis in the country.

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.

The European Commission has said it is expecting the leaders of Macedonia's largest political parties to take part in Wednesday's meeting in Brussels with Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn.

Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev announced on Friday that, following comments by Commissioner Hahn in Washington about previous elections in Macedonia, the opposition party will not attend talks in Brussels set for June 10.

He especially criticised Hahn's comments about "the generally positive reports of the monitoring mission of OSCE/ODIHR" concerning elections held in Macedonia.