European Parliament votes in favor of Gruevski’s extradition from Hungary


MEPs adopted the two amendments that require Hungary to extradite Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski to Macedonia.

The Social Democrats and the Greens a few days ago made separate amendments on the subject, but it was feared that the amendment proposed by the Greens would not pass because of its harsher content.

The amendment submitted by the Greens MEP Judith Sargentini, except for the extradition request, also states that Gruevski fled Macedonia with diplomatic assistance from Hungary to avoid prison terms and considers the move as interfering in the internal affairs of Macedonia, as well as a move to the judiciary and the rule of law in the country.

“What Hungary is doing is interference in the judiciary of a country that it trying hard to become a member of the EU. This is not constructive,” said Sargentini.

The social-democrats filed two amendments over Gruevski’s asylum and both were adopted. They highlight the fact that Nikola Gruevski received ‘a transparent judicial process’, but also his involvement in five other criminal investigations.

The EP rejected all Greek amendments, including those that requested the deleting of word ‘Macedonian’ from the report, as well as the amendment over the incorporation of the low referendum turnout in the Macedonia Resolution.

Furthermore, the MEPs also adopted the Greens amendments on environmental threat posed by certain infrastructure projects. The EP asks for suspension of the Mavrovo National Park project until the Strategic Environmental Assessment is complete, fully complying with the European legislation.