site.btaNorth Macedonia Reaches Principle Agreement on Government Reshuffle

An agreement in principle has been reached on changes to North Macedonia's government between VMRO-DPMNE and its coalition partners, the Albanian coalition VLEN and the ZNAM Movement, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said on Monday. He added that the names of the new ministers will be announced on Tuesday after the conclusion of a meeting of VMRO-DPMNE's Executive Committee.

For nearly a month, local media have closely followed the expected cabinet reshuffle, reporting on possible changes in the distribution of ministries among the coalition partners and the names of prospective ministers. 

On Saturday, VLEN announced that it would assume responsibility for six ministries. In addition to retaining the environment, economy and European integration portfolios, it will take over the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the Ministry for Inter-Community Relations. The Ministry of Justice is currently headed by a minister from ZNAM, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism by a VMRO-DPMNE representative, and the Ministry for Inter-Community Relations by Ivan Stoilkovic of the Democratic Party of Serbs in North Macedonia.