Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki on Wednesday received new Head of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Macedonia, Ambassador Peter Sorensen, who handed over the credentials.

The political parties of the opposition front led by SDSM (NSDP, LP, New Alternative, etc) backed the demands of the leader of the Social Democrats, Branko Crvenkovski, for holding regular elections.

“The opposition is not going to return to Parliament unless the conditions for fair and democratic elections are met. In case Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski calls early elections without meeting the opposition demands, the opposition front is going to boycott them,” MP Gjorgji Orovcanec from New Alternative said after the meeting of the leaders of the opposition parties at the SDSM HQ Tuesday.

H.E. Mr. Antonio MILOSHOSKI,

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia at the 16th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council

Mr. Chairman,
Madame High Commissioner,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to address the Human Rights Council today and present the views of the Republic of Macedonia on the most pressing issues on the Council’s agenda.  
I am confident that our deliberations and follow-up actions will contribute to further strengthening the universal importance of human rights principles as reflected in the UN Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

- SDMS will propose its own candidate for president of the State Election Commission but it will return to the Parliament when their requirements for fair and democratic elections are to be met. A coordination meeting was held Monday in the Parliament, which once again was not attended by members of opposition parties and speaker Trajko Veljanovski scheduled a new session for 15 March, with or without the opposition, at which the president of the State Elections Commission will be chosen. Veljanovski said that the majority will give support to any SDSM candidate.

We are still intent upon holding early elections that will put an end to the damage that Branko Cvenkovski is causing, said Prime Minister and VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski Sunday. He reiterated that early elections would be held even if SDSM boycotted them.

He believes that the president of the State Election Commission (DIK), Aleksandar Novakovski, resigned under direct pressure from Crvenkovski.

“It is obvious that he resigned under pressure. But this does not change the situation a lot. Crvenkovski may have bought 15-20 days by extorting a resignation from the president of DIK, who publicly said that the Commission was ready for elections and that the voters’ list was revised. I will not be surprised if the other member of DIK from SDSM gives in to Crvenkovski’s pressure over the next few days too,” Prime Minister Gruevski said

It is ever more certain that SDSM are not going to propose a candidate for new president of the State Election Commission while they are boycotting, and that that job will be undertaken by the parliamentary committee on election and appointment as stipulated by the law. It is a great enigma, Dnevnik comments, how BDI would act in that case considering that without the votes from this party the president of the State Election Commission cannot be elected (the president is elected by a two-thirds majority).

BDI refused Thursday to give a straight answer whether they were ready to elect a new president of the State Election Commission if he or she was not proposed by the opposition but by the parliamentary committee on election and appointment. MP Rafiz Aliti said that they would honor the law.

There will be early parliamentary elections but they will be boycotted by SDSM. This information came from the headquarters of VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM after their leaders, Nikola Gruevski and Branko Crvenkovski, following two days of shifting responsibility onto each other for the political crisis, failed to reach an agreement. Instead they grew apart even more as a result of which the most unwanted scenario for the country, early elections boycotted by SDSM – has become an option.

Experts caution that the two political factions must not allow boycotted elections because instead of being overcome the political crisis would then only worsen and produce far-reaching consequences.

 

Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki paid Wednesday a visit to Romania upon an invitation by his Romanian counterpart Teodor Baconschi. Milososki and Baconschi discussed the bilateral cooperation between both countries and Baconschi stressed that Romania was an active supporter of EU and NATO enlargement with Western Balkan countries.

The executive committee of VMRO-DPMNE decided that early parliamentary elections should be called immediately. At the press conference Tuesday, Prime Minister Gruevski called on SDSM to return to Parliament right now and appealed to SDSM leader Crvenkovski to accept this decision with dignity. BDI, VMRO-DPMNE’s coalition partner in office, shares this view. The ruling party announced also the composition of its election committee led by Martin Protogjer.

SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski said Monday that he would accept early elections provided the conditions his political party had set in order to return to Parliament were met.

In response to Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski’s interview on Sunday in which he invited the leader of SDSM to elections, Crvenkovski said at the press conference Monday that he gave up the fifth condition – constitutional modifications to exclude Justice Minister Manevski from the Judicial Council – by the other four remained.

“I welcome your decision to finally muster courage to accept our demand for early parliamentary elections that are the only democratic means for resolving this grave crisis and a way out of the dead-end. Early parliamentary elections should and have to be held, but not just any kind of elections. Only fair and democratic elections are a solution and a way out. Everything else will only worsen and radicalize the crisis,” Crvenkovski said.

In his interview with Sitel television Sunday, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski invited SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski to elections to measure the people’s trust, MIA reported Monday.

“Crvenkovski is appealing for early elections and is setting conditions that cannot be met even in six months,” Prime Minister Gruevski said, emphasizing that all opposition demands had been met.

In his view, elections can be held by the present election law as well and based on the present voters’ list considering it has been revised, which has also been confirmed by the president of the State Election Commission, Aleksandar Novakovski.

- Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki Sunday and Monday pays official visit to Peru where the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Macedonia will be opened in Lima, in organisation of the honorary consul Dean Atanasovski.

 

“I have to emphasize how pleased I am with the fact that over the past couple of days we had a chance of meeting many high-ranking US officials and discuss the Republic of Macedonia, the relations between the USA and Macedonia, the progress that has been made and the future,” the Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said, after his meetings with US Vice President Joseph Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington.

At those meetings, the prime minister talked about the progress Macedonia had made in the economy and education, the new steps in the judiciary and the public administration and about the Framework Agreement. He explained the reforms in details to show the Macedonian government was committed to reforms. Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Clinton were informed that before the crisis Macedonia had a growth rate of 5-6 percent, that Macedonia was the third largest reformer in 2010 according to the World Bank, climbing up from the 96th to the 36th position on the general list, that 6 percent of Macedonia’s GDP was spent on education, that progress had been made in fighting crime and corruption as a result of which Macedonia had climbed from the 105th to the 62nd position and that the country would stay that course.

However, the most talked about issue was Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic integration and the name issue with Greece, the only obstacle on Macedonia’s path of integration into NATO and the EU.

“The US position is that Macedonia and Greece should resolve their problem on their own and that they should not expect someone else to do the job for them. Of course that is our position too,” Prime Minister Gruevski said.

The name issue will be the main topic at Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski’s meeting with US Vice President Joe Biden in the White House Wednesday and with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton immediately afterward. Apart from the bilateral relations and the US support for Macedonia’s membership of NATO and the EU, this time round it is quite certain that the current situation in Macedonia will be discussed as well.

It is not ruled out for the US hosts to raise also the issue of the political dialogue, the court reforms, the freedom of media, and the latest incident at the Kale that aggravated interethnic relations in the country. There is no official information what Biden and Clinton would put at the table before the Macedonian government delegation but it is speculated that they would insist on resolution of the name issue. They may even insist that the name issue be resolved by the start of the hearing in Macedonia’s lawsuit against Greece in the Hague on 21 March.

- Slovenian counterpart Danilo Turk in Ljubljana welcomed his Macedonian counterpart Gjorge Ivanov, Tuesday, who is on a two-day official visit to Slovenia. Ivanov and Turk discussed about the present topics and the name issue.

The political parties and the non-governmental organizations appealed Wednesday for easing of tension following the bloody incident at the Kale in Skopje on Sunday. At the same time, the opposition accused the government of being directly responsible for the political crisis and for the aggravated interethnic and inter-religious relations and demanded that the director of the Office for Protection of the Cultural Heritage, Pasko Kuzman, Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska and Deputy Interior Minister Xhevad Buci be dismissed.

“Gruevski and Jankulovska disgraced the police and made them appear unorganized and chaotic. BDI and Buci misused the institutions because they participated in the tearing down of the museum-church and took handcuffs off detainees. Gruevski and Pasko Kuzman hypocritically pledged to stop the construction while continuing it secretly at night. You and your partners in the Government bear the entire responsibility,” said Gordan Georgiev, vice president of SDSM.

- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked Dutch Ambassador Simone Filippini to distance herself from the conduct of her employee Artan Grubi, president of the non-governmental organization “Wake Up”, one of the organizers of the protests at the Kale. Grubi participated in the incident himself. “Wake Up” aimed to promote noble ideas, peace, cultural values and fight against violence and arms.

Eight persons have been injured in a clash between two groups on Sunday at the Skopje Fortress, where a museum-church is under construction. The participants threw rocks, sticks, while the police tried to prevent a larger incident. Over the weekend, an initiative for support of the construction of the museum-church appeared. Several Albanian nongovernmental organizations scheduled a press-conference on the Fortress at almost the same time – 13:00.

VMRO-DPMNE and BDI condemned Sunday’s incident at the Skopje Fortress and will together insist on preventing this isolated event from escalating.

The European Union Delegation Office in Skopje announced that violence cannot be a response to existing problems and fully supported the joint statement of coalition partners VMRO-DPMNE and BDI.

The US Embassy in Macedonia calls on both involved parties to remain calm after the Sunday's incident at Skopje Fortress and called on all involved parties to seek solution via peaceful and constructive dialogue. 

SDSM assessed that the incident at Skopje’s Fortress is yet another confirmation that PM Gruevski is unable to manage the interethnic relations.

 

After meeting PM Gruevski in Skopje Thursday, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Countryman said he did not bring any warnings to prime ministers of countries. He said he discussed with PM Gruevski the US concern about the rule of law and the freedom of media, as well as the agenda of debate of PM Gruevski with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington next week. The US hopes that a solution to the name issue would soon be found. Countryman said the US cannot predict things and does not want to interfere with the talks. He came to Skopje from Tirana and his next stop is Pristina.

Some 50 VRMO-DPMNE MPs submitted a proposal for new constitutional changes with which Justice Minister Mihajlo Manevski will no longer be part of the Judicial Council. According to Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski, the Government only follows the EU recommendations.

Early parliamentary elections could be held in April or June, Dnevnik has learned from party sources. It is speculated that Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski’s meetings in Washington are crucial for resolution of the name issue and that is possible for him to announce, immediately on his return from Washington, that early elections would be called. In that case, the census would be postponed, which would not be a problem for BDI at all, especially if that works in favor of resolving the name issue with Greece, which Ali Ahmeti’s party has been long calling for.

Dnevnik has learned that Gruevski and Ahmeti have already discussed the possibility of early elections over the next few months, especially if no agreement is reached with SDSM for stopping the parliamentary boycott. According to BDI’s assessments, it would be good to hold the elections in early June, after the census scheduled to take place on 1-15 April. It is said that the date of the elections could be defined after the census and before announcing the results. However, BDI will not oppose the idea of postponing the census if governing VMRO-DPMNE insists on holding elections in the next few months.

- The new meeting of Macedonian and Greek negotiators Zoran Jolevski and Adamantios Vasilakis held in New York, Wednesday ended without any change in the positions. Both negotiators explained their positions to UN mediator Matthew Nimetz. Nimetz announced that next month he would inform them on what he would do next.

The unblocking of the accounts of A1 television and the other firms in Pero Nakov Street inspired at least a little hope that a way out of the political crisis, created after SDSM and the other opposition parties except LDP walked out of Parliament, will be found. The early elections are talked about increasingly more as the only logical solution although a few conditions should be met before calling them unless the government wishes to face a boycott from SDSM. May or early June are said to be the deadlines for holding the elections, Dnevnik reports.

Another spark of hope that the political crisis will be overcome soon came Tuesday from the decision of the political system committee at the request of Silvana Boneva from VMRO-DPMNE to stop the debate concerning the lustration law considering that, as she explained, the law should be passed by consensus and not in the absence of the opposition MPs. In addition, Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska, Justice Minister Mihajlo Manevski and State Election Commission President Aleksandar Novakovski held a press conference at which they said the voters’ list had been revised. This was one of the conditions set by SDSM, although the Social Democrats demanded that its revision be made under parliamentary surveillance.

Kanal 5 has learned that Macedonian ambassador Zoran Joleski will use his meeting with mediator Matthew Nimetz to demand the negotiations to speed up. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not wish to comment on anything before the meeting but once again stressed that the solution to the name issue should not touch upon the identity. Meanwhile, the Greek Government expects constructiveness but not a concrete result from the coming meeting in New York, Wednesday.

The Criminal Council of the Basic Court Skopje 1 decided Tuesday to unblock the accounts of A1 Television and the other firms suspected of fraud in the case Cobweb.

“With regard to the filed appeals of the manager of the legal entity A1 Television against the decision of the investigative judge of this court for temporary block of the bank accounts of this legal entity and the other legal entities with the aim of temporary provision of funds in connection with the felonies, the Criminal Council of the this court decided today to accept the appeals, void the decisions of the investigative judge and return the cases to repeated consideration,” the announcement from the public relations office of the Basic Court Skopje 1 says.

 

The meeting of the leaders of the political parties with President Gjorge Ivanov Monday produced no agreement for getting out of the political crisis, sources from opposition SDSM said. The four-hour meeting failed to bridge the differences between the government and the opposition, which is boycotting the Parliament.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski told SDSM leader Crvenkovski that they would negotiate over SDSM’s demands after their MPs returned to Parliament. This was the message that the leader of VMRO-DPMNE delivered at the leaders’ meeting in President Ivanov’s office, at which the political parties tried to find a way out of the political crisis created after SDSM, NSDP, NA, LP and DR decided to step out of Parliament.

The leaders of the major political parties are discussing in President Ivanov’s office Monday the political crisis in Macedonia after the major opposition party SDSM, Demokracia e Re and a few smaller political party walked out of Parliament. The opposition says the country is in a grave political crisis because of PM Gruevski’s dictatorship and the ignoring of the opposition’s demands by the ruling party in Parliament. The opposition also assesses that the government is attacking the media critical of its work with its recent block of the account of the opposition A1 television.

“The political will is crucial for fair and democratic elections whenever they are held,” said the President of the State Election Commission, Aleksandar Novakoski, Thursday. He also called on the parties to work more on their mutual trust for that is the only way to make the electorate trust them more.

“Without that trust and mutual respect, we are all making contribution to the creation of an atmosphere that is not good for the pre-election year,” Novakoski said and added that this attitude spoilt the atmosphere for holding good elections. “It will be irresponsible of us if we fail to muster strength and political will to pass the modifications to the election law.”

- President Gjorgje Ivanov on Thursday had several meetings with US officials in Washington at which he said that USA is our honest ally that is supporting Macedonia in its NATO aspirations. Ivanov also attended the traditional Prayer Breakfast in Washington, organized by US President Barack Obama.

Following the recent developments in Macedonia, Doris Pack MEP called on the Socialist Party to return to parliament and not to move the country into a position similar to that of Albania:

"Neither the Socialist Party of Macedonia nor its counterpart in Albania are acting in the interest of their respective countries. The only result of their street protests is to lead to doubts within the European Union whether their countries will be able to fulfil European standards of democracy. Their behaviour is irresponsible.

Instead of taking to the streets, they should argue their case in parliament. Macedonia needs a functioning parliament with so much legislative work still to be done, and the Macedonian people deserve to have a functioning parliamentary democracy.