Zaev: Agreement with opposition or early elections to be known in coming days

It will be known in a few days if there is a climate to reach an agreement with the opposition for a two-third majority required for the Parliament to pass the constitutional changes required under the name agreement with Greece, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said on Monday.

According to him, today is the day to digest all the analyses and plans.

Talks will start as of tomorrow, PM Zaev told reporters after the attending an event launching the new academic year at the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering in Skopje.

He said that there were capacities for holding early elections, considered as the last resort if an agreement couldn’t be reached.

“Of course there are capacities for elections. The law and the Constitution envisage what is next. But, I hope we will manage to make an agreement. Processes cannot be deadlocked moving nowhere, things must be moving forward,” stressed the Prime Minister.

According to him, if all attempts fail to reach an agreement and early elections must be organized, then polls will be administered very soon. It is highly likely that elections can be organized by late November, which was already mentioned by Zaev last night. He noted that other deadlines must be taken into account, such as European Parliament elections, set to take place in May 2019, in which Greece will be also involved. He said that by now there was no concrete support for constitutional changes from VMRO-DPMNE lawmakers. After talks with the opposition in the coming days, we will get a clearer picture of what is the climate in this respect, according to him.

As things stand now, PM Zaev added, all stakeholders need to show political maturity since no one has offered any alternative to NATO and the EU or an agreement that could be better than the one reached with Greece.