Pendarovski is leaving the Parliament


Stevo Pendarovski, SDSM’s Presidential candidate in 2014, is probably leaving the Parliament. He was first elected as parliament member in December 2016, as the bearer of SDSM’s list in the general election.

According to our sources, Pendarovski, who was Boris Trajkovski’s long-time consultant for external policy and safety, and was later named national coordinator for NATO by Branko Crvenkovski. His naming to a new position – this time in the executive power, is supposed to be brought by the Government in the next few weeks, maybe even today.

In a statement for “Nezavisen/Independent”, Pendarovski didn’t confirm nor deny the information about his transfer to a new position. He said he will comment on the subject when there is an official decision.

His previous position as a national coordinator for NATO has been vacant for years, and was once handled by the current chief of diplomacy, Nikola Dimitrov. The position stayed vacant almost as long as Macedonia’s progress to the Alliance was stopped, or approximately 10 years.

In 2008, Pendarovski, as consultant to the previous President Crvenkovski, was a part of our delegation in Bucharest, when Macedonia, the only country from the Adriatic group, was vetoed in joining NATO, due to the name dispute.

Filling the national NATO coordinator’s position comes in a time when the new Government is focused on Macedonia’s primary goal – full membership in the Alliance. And when significant changes are noticed in the relations with Greece since a decade ago, the dispute with our southern neighbor became the main, but not the only obstacle in our path to the Eu-Atlantic integration.