Government and Opposition still without Agreement over SPO Law

The working groups of the government and the opposition held on Tuesday a new round of negotiations over the draft-laws on the Special Public Prosecution (SPO), but once again failed to reach an agreement over them. “There is a significant progress, but the main dispute over the investigations of SPO started after their 18-month mandate still remains unresolved. I can say that the governmental team is ready to make certain concessions, since the adoption of this law is of crucial importance for starting the membership negotiations with the EU,” said Justice Minister and the Head of the Governmental team Renata Deskoska. From VMRO-DPMNE they state that SPO should become a part of the Basic Public Prosecution (PPO). “SPO should become a department of PPO, but it should not have a status that brings privileges to certain prosecutors. It is up to the Justice Ministry to create an atmosphere for compromise, and we hope Justice Minister Deskoska will manage to convince all participants in this process to reach a compromise in accordance with the laws and positive practices applied in Macedonia,” Antonio Milososki from VMRO-DPMNE said.