Page 13 - bne_newspaper_June_02_2017

Southeast Europe
June 2, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 13
Macedonian crisis ends as new government is sworn in
bne IntelliNews
The Macedonian parliament endorsed the new government led by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, leader of the centre-left Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), in a vote ten minutes before midnight on May 31, bringing an end to the politi- cal impasse that had threatened the stability of this ethnically fractured Balkan state.
However, the political situation is likely to be anything but calm over the coming months, with the now-opposition VMRO-DPMNE boycotting the first session, signalling that the party will use all opportunities not to participate in the work of the assembly.
The SDSM is now back in power after more than
a decade of rule (since 2006) by the conserva-
tive VMRO-DPMNE party, whose government was toppled following the wiretapping scandal in 2015 that revealed crime and corruption by senior party officials.
The new government was approved with 62 votes in favour, 44 against and five abstentions, follow- ing two days of lengthy debates, according to live broadcasts by state-run MRT.
Following the vote, Zaev and his ministers were officially sworn in.
The new government will be composed of three parties, the SDSM and two parties represent- ing the ethnic Albanian minority: the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), a former partner of
VMRO-DPMNE in the previous government, and the Alliance for Albanians. The three parties have a slim majority of 62 MPs in the 120-seat parlia- ment.
The government consists of 25 ministers, of which seven are without portfolio.
Previously, another ethnic Albanian party, Besa, decided not to participate in the new government, saying it had decided to stay in opposition because Zaev was “not willing to accept the principles for joint governance with Besa and to sign an agree- ment on that”.
One of Besa’s key demands was for redefining the state of Macedonia, but this was unacceptable
for the SDSM, which was being prevented by the president from forming a government over con- cerns it was agreeing to the breakup of the for- mer Yugoslav state along ethnic lines. Besa also blamed the SDSM for allowing the DUI to appoint “corrupt ministers”.
Zaev, 42, economist and former mayor of the east- ern town of Strumica, promised while presenting the government programme a day earlier, that
the new government would work to improve the economy, aiming for stronger growth and more jobs, to make institutions more professional and bring the country into the EU and Nato.
The government will be also devoted to the im- plementation of urgent reform priorities as part