SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
According to PM Hristijan Mickoski, there will be no cabinet reshuffle before the local elections. Both he and 1st Deputy PM and VLEN co-leader Izet Mexhiti believe the ruling coalition functions great.
However, the latter believes that the only issue lies with fellow VLEN co-leader and Health Minister Arben Taravari. Mexhiti considers Taravari is sitting on the fence.
However, Taravari, head of one of the Alliance for Albanians’ two wings, said he’d received an ultimatum instead of a chance for talks from the other three parties part of VLEN.
“They’ve sent me an already prepared offer regarding the number of candidates for mayoral and council positions in the local elections”, he stressed on Monday.
Taravari neither confirmed nor denied speculation that he’d been offered five mayoral candidates and 35% of council seat candidates from both VLEN and DUI. He left the door open to talks with all parties, even though he stressed VLEN hadn’t offered him a merger into a single political actor.
“If they decide to go without us, good luck to them. We will even give them the name, let them be named ‘VLEN’, while my five MPs will function as a separate parliamentary group”, the Health Minister underlined.
When it comes to cooperation with DUI, he is keeping the door slightly opened. However, Taravari is adamant that there would be no cooperation with the head of the other wing of Alliance for Albanians, Ziadin Sela.
