Even VMRO-DPMNE knows the government is not dismantling
On Wednesday before midnight, the Assembly will vote on confidence of the government, but almost no one believes that the opposition will manage to gather 61 hands that would vote against Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and his team. The interpellation was submitted by VMRO-DPMNE, to find a reason for the return of a parliamentary group in the Parliament, to make a census of the forces in parliament, as well as to attack the wrong policies and unrealized promises of SDSM and DUI. It is not expected that anyone other than the “For Better Macedonia” coalition, which now has 45 MPs, will vote for no confidence in the Government, if one takes into account that Albanian parties that are not part of the ruling coalition negotiate for their own transfer to “Ilindenska”.
On the official website of the Parliament, a session has not yet been scheduled after the submitted interpellation of the VMRO-DPMNE parliamentary group filed on Sunday night. Four parliamentary sessions with backlogs and several committees are scheduled for today, whose agenda is mainly reform laws. At the 34th session is the reform law for the courts, on the 35th there are amendments to the Law on Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Law on Criminal Procedure, in second reading, and the 22nd session is scheduled with one point, changes and amendments to the Law on Protection of the witnesses in a short procedure. A 41st session with a few points that are not from the reform package is scheduled. It is expected on Thursday or possibly on Friday to be scheduled another parliamentary session on which the package of laws for interception of communications will be on the agenda. However, the President of the Assembly, Talat Xhaferi, is obliged to schedule the session within three days after filing an interpellation, which in this case means Wednesday. The hearing lasts all day, while the voting on confidence of the Government is scheduled before midnight.
“We have no illusions that the government will dismantle, because it is obvious that they have the majority, but the goal is to clean out their incompetence,” says a senior official of VMRO-DPMNE for ‘Nezavisen/Independent’ newspaper.
In the submitted interpellation, handed over by the coordinator of the parliamentary group Dragan Donev, it is stated that during the ten-month rule, the Government failed in all fields. Purging in the public administration and enterprises, the captive judiciary, political revenge, and the arrests of MPs and people that do not share their views, the uncontrolled spending of state money, the increased level of crime, the non-implementation of reforms, the unrealized plan 3-6-9, the violation of the Law on languages, the fall in the construction industry, the unfulfilled promise to recover VAT, the agreement with Bulgaria, and the secrecy of the negotiations with Greece, they are criticizing the economic and social measures, the indebtedness of 1.5 billion euros, the controversy in the Ministry of Culture etc.
“Crime, corruption, incompetence. That is Zoran Zaev’s government,” argues the main opposition party.
Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, however, replied that although it is fragile, the parliamentary majority is stable, and the thin figure is an advantage, because in such circumstances a dictator cannot be created. According to estimates, the vote on the interpellation will indicate a schedule of forces in parliament at a time when Prime Minister Zaev is trying to expand the parliamentary majority with some of the opposition MPs. Putting the agenda of the interpellation against the government cuts off the opposition boycott of the parliament that began more than four months ago because of the detention of the events on 27 April 2017, when the immunity of six deputies from the “For Better Macedonia” coalition was taken away.
The VMRO-DPMNE coalition, which entered the Parliament as the largest parliamentary group (51 MPs), now operates with three members less, who joined the ruling majority. Also, three MPs are still in custody, so the opposition party’s parliamentary group is returning to parliament for 45 MPs, 39 of which are from VMRO-DPMNE. A vote of no confidence in the cabinet’s office requires a minimum of 61 MP seats. In the event that a vote of no confidence is passed to the Government, it is obliged to resign, otherwise, a motion of confidence cannot be raised again in the cabinet on “Ilindenska” in the next 90 days.
Goran Adamovski