It is hard to predict the outcome of the first meeting between high-ranking officials of VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM in Brussels on Monday to be held under the auspices of the international community with the aim of the bringing their utterly conflicting views closer together and hopefully finding a way out of the political crisis.

SDSM deputy leader Radmila Sekerinska and Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki are going to meet behind closed doors in the building of the European Parliament in the attendance of MEPs Ivo Vajgl, Eduard Kukan, and Richard Howitt. However, it is still unknown who else will be part of the party teams conducting the negotiations.  

It is just as mysterious what issues will be on today’s agenda—whether the parties will present their starting positions or the manner in which to conduct talks will merely be defined. The MEPs are not expected to offer a tangible solution. Their mandate is only to try and detect a common ground for an agreement.