site.btaNorth Macedonia PM Bashes SDSM Leader for Rejecting Talks on Caretaker Government Reform

The Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Hristijan Mickoski, said on Thursday that the refusal of the leader of the opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), Venko Filipce, to take part with him in a leaders' meeting was "irresponsible, immature, confusing and unclear." The meeting is to discuss the abolition of the caretaker government, which administers the country for 100 days before elections, and laws related to the reforms needed for North Macedonia’s progress towards the European Union.

In response to a journalist’s question during a visit to Gevgelija, Mickoski said that invitations to the leaders of the parliamentary parties will nevertheless be sent, and that the meeting is planned for January 14.

He said that he would not convene a leaders’ meeting if the government behaved the way Filipce had, because with the parliamentary majority held by the governing coalition, the caretaker government could simply be "eliminated" and there is no need for the opposition’s opinion on the matter.

"We have many laws which, in my view, ought to be discussed within an inclusive process, even though our absolute majority allows us to do so without consulting the opposition. But unfortunately, we have an irresponsible, non-constructive opposition, an opposition without ideas, which uses the kind of labels we heard today at Filipce’s press conference," Mickoski said.

Asked by journalists whether the planned leaders' meeting means early elections, Mickoski replied that citizens already gave their support clearly in the most recent parliamentary and local elections, and that the government’s priority is reforms, not new elections.