VMRO-DPMNE will cooperate with Pendarovski only if it has to


The newly elected President’s extended hand of cooperation to the opposition is taken with a grain of salt in the so-called “White Palace”. VMRO-DPMNE does not believe that President Stevo Pendarovski’s messages sent to the main opposition party are sincere, pointing out that if they were, in fact, sincere, then party leader Hristijan Mickoski would have received an invitation to attend the inauguration last Sunday. And not just that, the main opposition party yesterday strongly attacked Pendarovski claiming he was a man without integrity, and a shadow of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, which gives him the freedom not to physically attend Pendarovski’s inauguration last Sunday.

That is, practically, a continuation of the presidential election campaign, where VMRO-DPMNE repeatedly blamed the government’s favorite for not having a position and quoted him saying “We think 102.5% like Zaev”.
However, after the election run-off on May 5, political elites are expected to bury the hatchet and, in the interests of the country, try to cooperate at least in achieving Euro-integration.
“We are, of course, ready for dialogue and we will cooperate whenever the future of our country is at stake. If we are called for a conversation, we will accept, but you cannot expect of us to fall into a trance that the president said he would reach out a hand to the opposition. If he really meant it, he would have invited us to the inauguration. On the other hand, what does ‘reconciliation’ with the opposition mean to him? What are his credentials in this matter? Will he tell the Prime Minister what is not right, and that he shouldn’t do it? It is not enough to just tell stories, yet he needs to show specific examples, said VMRO-DPMNE.
In his first speech as President, Pendarovski promised to equally represent both those who voted for him and those who were against him. He said he expected citizens to value him according to the attitude that he will have towards the opposition, and stressed that in today’s Europe there was almost no country that is so small, and so internally divided.
“In the political sphere, the first thing that I will do is to extend hand for cooperation to the opposition. I feel that my first commitment as president proposed by the political majority is to protect the status and rights of the political minority, because democracy exists only when different minorities in society are protected from the possible arbitrariness of the majority, and for that only the laws, most often, are not enough. Political differences between people and parties will continue to exist because they are natural and necessary, but the energy and potential of society must be united over several strategically important things of which I will insist, and for which I will propose models for achieving wider state consensus. By this I mean of our Euro-Atlantic aspirations, above all, for which there is a full agreement among the relevant political entities on the rhetorical level. However, the modalities for their realization in which we believe are different,” said Pendarovski, pointing out that he would insist on involving the best experts in the processes towards NATO and the EU, no matter where they came from.
VMRO-DPMNE accepted the election defeat in the presidential elections, but neither Mickoski nor Siljanovska congratulated the winner. MPs from the ranks of VMRO-DPMNE attended Pendarovski’s address in Parliament, but did not react to any of his messages, nor applauded.
” Zaev hand-picked an obedient character to install as President through electoral engineering and pre-arranged delivery of votes. Pendarovski hasn’t spoken a word about the crimes, corruption and nepotism displayed by the Government. He remained silent while his political mentor Zoran Zaev was being amnestied for his crimes. He never spoke out about the lack of reforms which will likely cost Macedonia the opening of EU accession talks,” VMRO-DPMNE said in a press release.
Pendarovski’s term will last until 2024. In the next year and a half, a successful cohabitation is expected between him Prime Minister Zaev, something that was absent while Gjorge Ivanov resided in the Vodno presidential villa. But if VMRO-DPMNE succeeds in winning the next general elections, the Mickoski-Pendarovski duo will have to push Macedonia towards Brussels.

Parliament: Party leaders are not invited

Yesterday, the Parliament yet again explained why opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski was not invited to the inauguration of the newly elected President Stevo Pendarovski. The Parliament said that there is no practice of inviting leaders of political parties, who are not MPs, to the inauguration of presidents.
The Parliament added that the holders of high-ranking state posts were invited according to a previous list, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited foreign guests.

Zbogar – Siljanovska: The future is in the EU

The head of the EU Delegation, Ambassador Samuel Zbogar, met yesterday with the newly elected President Stevo Pendarovski and Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, presidential candidate supported by VMRO-DPMNE.
“With Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, we agreed future of the country is in EU. A lot of work is still needed to bring EU into daily lives of people. Me and my office will tirelessly support all citizens of North Macedonia to achieve this objective,” wrote Zbogar on his Twitter account.

Goran Adamovski