Reached agreement for interpellation

VMRO-DPMNE on Saturday will submit the interpellation about the work of the government of Zoran Zaev for the past ten months, to be considered on the first working day after the Easter holidays. Thus, Tuesday – April 10 will be the first working day for the opposition MPs after more than four months of boycott due to the detentions for the events on April 27, 2017.

The term in which the government’s trust will be discussed, is basically determined by the proposer of the interpellation, considering the constitutional deadlines according to which the (non) confidence vote is conducted within three days of the submission of the initiative. Accordingly, the timing announced by VMRO-DPMNE, incidentally or not, coincided with the date planned by Speaker Talat Xhaferi for such a meeting. On regular Monday coordination in the Parliament, which did not have representatives of the VMRO-DPMNE parliamentary group this time, Xhaferi announced that the meeting for trust of Zaev’s cabinet would be held on April 10, and then, by April 13, the reform laws can be adopted as well.

The reconciliation between VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM over the systemic laws of the reform package, especially for those requiring a two-thirds majority (such as the law for courts), was the initial reason for the return of the opposition to parliament before the publication of the EC report on Macedonia’s progress on April 17. But then, representatives from VMRO-DPMNE said that their priority is to file an interpellation about Zaev’s cabinet, which is interpreted as a kind of justification for the decision to end the boycott.
The debate on the confidence in the government lasts one day, and the vote is at midnight. A motion of confidence of the Government can be set by at least 20 MPs, and at least 61 MPs in favor of a possible vote of no confidence in the cabinet. 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 cannot be raised again in the “Ilindenska” cabinet.

This is the first test of confidence for Zoran Zaev’s cabinet, ten months after the change of power on “Ilindenska” – which was last June.
After the interpellation session on Tuesday, it is expected from Wednesday to continue with the sessions, on whose agenda are the laws from plan 3-6-9, which should be adopted by the end of the next week, ie before the publication of the European report. VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM have coordinated these laws, which mainly deal with the judiciary and the security sector, in several working groups.

(A.M.M.)