Parliament Elects New Government of Macedonia

The Parliament of Macedonia officially elected the new Government of Macedonia after a 2-day-long session which concluded on Sunday before midnight. Of the MPs present in the hall, 62 voted in favour of the new government while 51 voted against it. One MP from DUI voted from a separate room in the Parliament after it was revealed that he is COVID-19-positive and was not coming to the parliament at all in the previous few days. PM-designate Zoran Zaev said that the new government will be fully dedicated to progress in all fields, especially the economy. “Me as a PM and the ministers oblige ourselves to serve the citizens with honour and responsibility, for a better perspective for us and our children. We will work harder to have high-quality healthcare, education, judiciary and rule of law. Today, all our neighbouring countries are our friends and supporters, we have become a member of NATO and are about to start membership negotiations with the EU. We will have state institutions that everyone will be proud of,” Zaev said in the Parliament before the voting took place. The new government, which will be chaired by Zoran Zaev as PM, will include 19 ministers: Artan Grubi First Deputy PM for Political System, Nikola Dimitrov Deputy PM for European Affairs, Ljupco Nikolovski Deputy PM for Fight against Corruption, Fatmir Bytyqi Deputy-PM for Economic Affairs, Oliver Spasovski Interior Minister, Radmila Sekerinska Defence Minister, Bojan Maricic Justice Minister, Venko Filipce Health Minister, Mila Carovska Education Minister, Jagoda Sahpaska Labour and Social Policy Minister, Blagoj Bocvarski Transport and Communications, Goran Milevski Local Self-government Minister, Irena Stefoska Culture Minister, Bujar Osmani Foreign Affairs Minister, Fatmir Besimi Finance Minister, Kreshnik Bekteshi Economy Minister, Arianit Hoxha Agriculture Minister, Jeton Shaqiri Information Society and Administration Minister and Naser Nuredini Environment and Physical Planning Minister. In his introductory address on Saturday presenting the programme of the new government, Zaev said that the new government he proposed to the Parliament is consisted of many new names in politics and that they will bring fresh energy to the institutions of the state. “The alliance of SDSM and BESA won the 2020 parliamentary election, and today we present our governmental programme, with additions from our allies DUI and DPA, for the period 2021-2024. This programme foresees increase of salaries between 20 % and 30 % once we overcome the COVID-19 crisis, increase of investments and improvement of rule of law, healthcare, education, culture and everything else. Special focus will be put on judiciary: judges which intentionally allow statute of limitations of cases to expire shall be dismissed, all cases processed by the now inactive Special Public Prosecutor’s Office must all be resolved. For this to become true, we need a stable government and functional state institutions. The new government will remain dedicated to full implementation and respect of the Prespa Agreement with Greece, the Good-neighbourliness Agreement with Bulgaria and the Ohrid Framework Agreement. Our country will do all in its power to assist its citizens, especially in time of pandemic. Citizens can count on the support from institutions, but they also must stick to the protocols and measures for protection of their health and the health of those close to them,” Zaev said.