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Southeast Europe
May 5, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 14
When Xhaferi initially tried to take up the new post, several VMRO-DPMNE MPs prevented him from entering the speaker’s office, saying his election was not valid. Outgoing speaker Trajko Veljanovski, who was supposed to officially trans- fer the position, was not present.
It is still not clear whether the election of Xhaferi will be published in the Official Gazette, a publi- cation controlled by VMRO-DPMNE. After over a decade in power, the party controls many of the institutions in Macedonia.
The threat of violence continues. According to news agency MIA, on May 2 an improvised explo-
sive device was found in the Macedonian parlia- ment. The parliament’s security services told the police they found a detonator attached to a big gas cylinder on the first floor of the parliament, but the device was defused.
The Social Democrats have said that the vio- lent incidents in Macedonia’s parliament were caused by people close to the conservative VM- RO-DPMNE. Russian involvement in stirring up trouble is also widely suspected.
VMRO-DPMNE is now demanding new elections to solve the crisis in the country, while the SDSM has said there will be no elections.
Bulgaria’s GERB, United Patriots form new government
bne IntelliNews
Bulgaria’s new government, a coalition between Boyko Borissov’s centre-right party Centre-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), which won the early general elections on March 26, and the nationalist United Patriots as- sumed office on May 4 after it was voted in by the National Assembly.
GERB leader Boyko Borissov will be prime min- ister for the third time and pledged that the main mission of his new government will be to improve the quality of life of the Bulgarian citizens, as well as the country’s successful development, a state- ment said on May 4.
In a speech before the parliament, Borissov also vowed that his government will meet the ex- pectations of the society for continuing judicial reform. He said they will propose a new anti- corruption law that will create a single anti-cor- ruption body. The PM committed that by end- 2018 the new government will implement the 17
recommendations in the latest report under the European Commission's Cooperation and Verifi- cation Mechanism (CVM).
On April 27, GERB signed an agreement with
the United Patriots coalition to form a coalition government. This is the first time the nationalist parties will join the government, and they will take several ministerial posts alongside numerous ministers from the previous GERB government, which left office at the end of 2016.
Two of the four deputy prime ministers in the new cabinet will be from the United Patriots coalition, which includes three nationalist parties – the Na- tional Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria (NFSB), VMRO-Bulgarian National Movement and Ataka. Their respective leaders are Valeri Simeonov, Krassimir Karakachanov and Volen Siderov.
Simeonov and Karakachanov will be deputy prime ministers, while Karakachanov will also be minis-