Mickoski to overthrow Zaev

Ten months after the change of power on “Ilindenska”, the Prime Minister Zoran Zaev’s Cabinet will face the first vote of confidence. The initiative came from the opposition, which in this way secured a justification for the membership and supporters of the decision to return to parliament after almost three months of boycott.

According to the information, the VMRO-DPMNE was faced with strong pressure to return to the institutions. Therefore, a search was made as to how to do this in a situation where the “mathematical requirement” for involving the opposition in the work of parliament has not yet been fully met, as half of the total of six accused MPs on the events on April 27 are still in house arrest. The Solomon decision to interrupt the boycott with the interpellation about the work of the government, as it is said, was almost unanimously accepted at the session of the central committee of VMRO-DPMNE, and for this allegedly there was a mood in the entire parliamentary group of the party.

VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski explained the government’s interpellation announcement with estimates that it lost credibility and pushed the country into the abyss.
VMRO-DPMNE’s MPs will explain in detail why this anti-national and anti-state government should leave as soon as possible. Its defeats have become everyday life, and populism its landmark, while in reality the people live much worse. This criminal government is remembered as the most incompetent ever since the independence of Macedonia,” said Mickoski.
The debate and the vote on (non) confidence in the Government is expected to be realized after the Easter holidays, although the exact date of the session will depend on the date when VMRO-DPMNE will submit the initiative to parliament, when the beginning of the constitutional deadline of three days starts. Accordingly, the adoption of systemic laws for the judiciary and the security services will wait until Zaev confirms that his cabinet has absolute support in the legislature.

VMRO-DPMNE’s initiative to test confidence in the government comes at a time when Zaev is trying to broaden the parliamentary majority with new MPs, rejecting the possibility of calling early elections. Another inconvenient moment about the interpellation against the Government is that it comes at a time when the European Commission completes Macedonia’s progress report, and the expectations of the authorities are that it will also include a recommendation to start EU membership negotiations. In that mosaic, one of the key criteria is the adoption of the laws that came out of the Reinhardt Priebe report and the consensus that the ruling majority and the opposition should achieve for them. Zaev said yesterday he believes that time will be found for both the needs of the opposition and the reforms.

“Their right is to file a motion against the Government. But at the same time, we have to take care and bring the laws to the deadline, because we would not want any EU Member State to give us a reason for excuse for what ever we have already complied with the laws. It is clear that there is almost complete consensus in parliament to adopt such solutions,” the prime minister said.

He welcomed the opposition’s decision to re-engage in the work of parliament and assessed that the dialogue with it is moving in a good direction.
“Working groups are convening and a majority of the bills have been harmonized with some of them being completely harmonized. It means that it can be expected Parliament to pass the laws by April 17, the day when the EC will release the progress reports. The Parliament Speaker told me he planned to schedule a session with the laws on the agenda on April 10, which are part of the 3-6-9 Plan”, Zaev informed.

As regards the enlargement of the parliamentary majority, Zaev said he is talking with MPs from the Albanian parties, as well as the parties of the smaller ethnic communities in the country. He hopes that the ruling majority will manage to increase the number of MPs, which will also mean the stability of government policies at a time when a solution to the name dispute is expected, a date for start of EU negotiations and a NATO invitation.
“My government’s perception is that we should not always be in a hurry for parliamentary elections. Certainly, if someone else provokes, puts pressure or has other reasons, we will leave the possibility of early elections open,” Zaev said.

The motion of confidence of the Government can be set by at least 20 MPs, and at least 61 votes in favor of a possible no-confidence vote. In the event that a vote of no confidence is passed to the Government, it is obliged to resign, otherwise, in the next 90 days, a motion of confidence in the “Ilindenska” cabinet cannot be raised again. The Government’s confidence hearing will last one day, while the vote is held at midnight.

Aleksandra M. Mitevska