BDI leader Ali Ahmeti said he would not step out of the Government unless the name issue with Greece was resolved by June. He explained that in spite of the disagreements with the coalition partner over certain issues, including the announced reform of the justice system, their relations were as they should be. Ahmeti’s statement comes in the wake of the numerous direct announcements of his fellow party members that they would part company with Gruevski.

“It would be easiest for BDI to leave the Government, but that would be perilous for the country. BDI is contributing and working on finding a solution that would be acceptable to both parties because we all know the name issue is the main obstacle to Macedonia’s membership of NATO and starting of European Union accession talks,” Ahmeti said.

Ahmeti said Saturday that BDI would do all in its power to be useful and contribute to resolving the problem as soon as possible.

“We are not renouncing our commitment to a joint rule. We have differing opinions on certain issues, but the main principles of the coalition are respected by both parties,” Ahmeti stressed.

Coalition partners Gruevski and Ahmeti have conflicting views of the constitutional changes that should be made in order to reform the justice system. Ahmeti reiterated on Saturday that his party was going to insist that the Constitutional Court, too, takes decisions by the Badinter principle. In his view, these changes are necessary to raise the ethnic Albanians’ trust in this institution and to prevent what happened to the law on use of national symbols from happening again. On the other hand, Prime Minister Gruevski said he was ready for a dialogue but would not back something that was not good for the justice system and that went beyond the framework of the Ohrid agreement.

“BDI is going to continue to demand changing of the Constitution through a legal act, especially as regards the use of the Badinter majority at the Constitutional Court. Although this demand does not arise from the Framework Agreement, it is in the spirit of the document. We are going to prove with arguments that the changes are justified, will only benefit Macedonia and will also raise the trust of the Albanian community in the Macedonian Constitution,” Ahmeti said.

Gruevski holds that the vote at the Constitutional Court by the ethnic principle could be dangerous for the justice system.

“Voting by ethnic principles leads to something else and not to a better justice system. After all, the election of judges may be done by ethnic principles, but it won’t be good if the voting is done in the same way. We wish to discuss everything that is constructive but we are unable to accept this, which is not in keeping with the Framework Agreement,” he said.

The expert team for constitutional changes is set to start work on Monday.