There is talk of split between the MPs of VMRO-DPMNE
On one hand, constructiveness to reach a consensus on reform laws, on the other hand – blockade, among other things, for adopting those laws. The double standards applied by VMRO-DPMNE after the change in the helm of the party sparked suspicion in political circles that they were a result of the disagreement that came to light before and during the congress for the election of Hristijan Mickoski as leader, in which the main characters were part of the most experienced MPs of VMRO-DPMNE in this parliamentary composition.
The first notable signal in this direction was the blockade with over 35 thousand amendments to the law on languages, which basically closed the whole parliament, including the laws from plan 3-6-9. And this happened at a time when the new opposition leadership negotiated in working groups with SDSM on adaptation of the systemic laws from the reform package and changes in the election regulations.
According to parliamentary sources, behind the initiative to block the Parliament with a record number of amendments, are part of the MPs of VMRO-DPMNE with longer work experience in the legislature, who in December demanded the postponement of the congress to elect a new party leader and then challenged the legitimacy of the event in Valandovo. First and foremost, the former Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski is mentioned here, as well as MPs Ilija Dimovski (former coordinator of the VMRO-DPMNE Parliamentary Group) and Antonio Milososki. Yesterday, we tried to contact them to confirm or reject these allegations, but they did not answer our phone calls.
There are even unofficial information that Mickoski, whose political experience is far more modest, and his closest associates, have been overwhelmed by the idea of putting so many interventions on the law that President Gjorge Ivanov vetoed. Especially since VMRO-DPMNE did not participate in the work of the legislature for the third time, so it was not even present when the law on languages was voted, for which it had previously filed “only” eighteen amendments. But, allegedly, the leadership of VMRO-DPMNE stood behind the “amendment blockade” after some of the members of the other wing announced that they could form a separate parliamentary group.
Although VMRO-DPMNE’s parliamentary group has announced that it will return to parliament when the amendment debate on the law on languages starts, it is indicative that most of the statements about the amendments submitted in the past period were made by MP Dimovski. He suddenly reappeared on stage, although for some time he completely distanced himself from the public, immediately after the congress, when he resigned from the position of coordinator of the caucus.
The second surprise was made by MP Milososki with the initiative for publishing an announcement for the election of a new composition of the SEC, which requires two-thirds majority in parliament. The leadership of VMRO-DPMNE stood behind this idea only after it was published in public and submitted to parliament. Milososki’s move surprised MPs of SDSM, from where he received information that representatives of VMRO-DPMNE, previously, in one of the working groups with the ruling party, came up with a request to discuss changing the concept of the SEC before going to selection of a new composition. Interlocutors from VMRO-DPMNE say that Milososki mentioned at one of the coordination between the leadership and the MPs that the selection of new members of the SEC should be sought, and that the deadlines for this have already been exceeded. However, there is no information whether the VMRO-DPMNE boards have reached a conclusion to formalize this proposal.
In a situation of internal party disagreement, party sources say the party’s new management structures hardly establish control over the caucus, which also affects negotiations with the ruling SDSM, because Mickoski is not sure about the exact number of MPs he can count on for a particular issue. On the other hand, it is possible that the alleged conflict has been fired in order for the opposition to obstruct the ruling party in a situation where the leadership of VMRO-DPMNE is under strong pressure from international factors for returning to parliament. . The top opposition party faces a diplomatic push for enhanced political dialogue with the consensus-building government, especially for the reform process and for the name dispute, in time of high hopes for getting a date for negotiations with the EU and an invitation for Macedonia’s NATO membership in the coming months.
The VMRO-DPMNE coalition entered this parliamentary composition with 51 MPs as the largest parliamentary group, which was divided into 10 “subgroups”, as opposed to 49 deputies from the pre-election coalition of SDSM. But now the opposition camp in parliament has been significantly reduced, after three parliamentarians from the smaller coalition parties left the parliamentary group, six others were detained for the events on April 27, while the remaining MPs of VMRO-DPMNE are no longer unique as there were before, which was first manifested in the letter requesting the postponement of the congress in Valandovo. Besides Veljanoski, Milososki and Dimovski, there were other more experienced VMRO-DPMNE members who are currently MPs like Boris Zmejkovski, Blagoja Despotovski, Slagjana Mitovska, Nola Ismajlovska, Nada Cipuseva that stood behind this initiative.
Aleksandra M. Mitevska