Page 14 - bne_newspaper_December_08_2017

Southeast Europe
December 8, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 14
Gruevski has led the party since 2003 and his fourth and final mandate is due to expire in mid-2019.
Gruevski is also facing pressure to resign from opponents within his party following series of scandals. The reformist wing of the party is one of the biggest advocates for his resignation. He faces criminal charges in several cases launched after wiretapped conversations between top officials were leaked by the SDSM in 2015.
VMRO secretary general Hristijan Mickoski said earlier that if Gruevski decides to resign, the next leader should be someone who will be acceptable for the party’s members, has a positive perception among the public and, most importantly, will be accepted by the international community — none of which applies to Gruevski.
EU slams Bosnian politicians for putting nationalist rivalry ahead of reforms
Denitsa Koseva in Sofia
The European Commission and the EU member states are deeply concerned by the lack of pro- gress on key reforms in Bosnia & Herzegovina, the EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said in a statement on December 4 on the occasion of his visit to the country.
Strong political disagreements have stalled criti- cal reforms in Bosnia this year and even have led to the freezing of a much-needed loan from the International Monetary Fund.
"While the European Union is more committed
His loss of popularity has been highlighted recently as he tried and failed to rally supporters to protest against the recent sentencing of party members over the parliament violence.
Only a small number of party supporters led by Gruevski have turned out for the daily protests
in front of the justice ministry and the court in Skopje, and they are only rarely joined by other top party officials. Since VMRO lost power, Gruevski has been unable to mobilise party members.
According to some media, there are rumours
that Gruevski might be replaced by the Mickovski, who was former director of state power producer ELEM, or by former foreign minister Nikola Popovski. Other potential candidates are former health minister Nikola Todorov, another ex-foreign minister Antonio Milososki and MP Ilija Dimovski.
than ever to support Bosnia and Herzegovina on its EU path political leaders both in government and in opposition seem more concerned with the usual nationalistic themes and talk about "crisis" instead of focusing on the real work at hand," Hahn said in a statement ahead of the visit.
Hahn has also said that he try to persuade all politicians in the country to fulfil their promises from the Reform Agenda signed back in 2015.
“The only way to move forward in the EU integra- tion process is to achieve concrete results on