The presidential and parliamentary elections will be held separately, PM Dimitar Kovacevski said on Thursday, adding that, ultimately, all parties had agreed on that. In his view, the working group in Parliament only needs to agree on the dynamism of the election process. Regarding the visit European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will pay to North Macedonia towards the ...

Criminal Court President Ivan Dzolev says regarding the Criminal Code changes that he doesn’t know whether the timing for their adoption was right. When it comes to the issue of expiration of statute of limitations over cases, he believes that the finger shouldn’t be pointed at the judiciary. “The statute of limitations over cases against former officials opened by the ...

PM Dimitar Kovacevski and Head of the EU Delegation, Ambassador David Geer share the view that progress on North Macedonia’s EU path depends on the country itself. The former expects for the constitutional changes to be made. According to Geer, though North Macedonia has support for integration, the homework has to be done. Regarding the issue of elections, the PM’s ...

It will be known this month how much the salaries of officials, which rose in April by 78%, will be reduced. At the Government’s session on Tuesday, a decision wasn’t made because PM Dimitar Kovacevski was in Tirana. The following day, the PM said a solution was possible in two-three weeks. However, he didn’t say how much the salaries would ...

As a result of the Criminal Code changes, the statute of limitations over illegal wire- tapping in the Target-Fortress case have expired for ex-secret police chief Saso Mijalkov, former intelligence agent Goran Grujevski, who’s at large, Nadica Nikolic, Vladimir Varelov, Marijan Sumulikoski, and Vasil Isakovski. The costs of the carrying out of the criminal process will be covered by the ...

Court administration members staged a new protest on Tuesday. They reiterated their demands: a salary increase of 78% (a raise identical to the one officials received) and reintroduction of the supplements of 35%. If their demands fall on deaf ears, they will block the whole court system. They also insisted on a meeting with PM Dimitar Kovacevski to present their ...

The topic of working groups for discussing election dates was raised at Monday’s coordination meeting of Parliamentary Group heads, convened by Talat Xhaferi. The Parliament Speaker explained the legal procedures for scheduling elections to MPs and discussed also potential dates. According to unofficial information, he again said 5 May was the only option for the presidential and parliamentary election processes ...

Strengthening the economic performances for countries from the region, encouragement for continuing reforms, and a clear call to overcome disputes through dialogue were the messages from Monday’s Berlin Process Leaders’ Summit in Tirana. “This is a very special Summit. We have today the 10 th Berlin process, but for the very first time in the Western Balkans. And I think ...

There will be no leaders’ meeting between PM and SDSM leader Dimitar Kovacevski and VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski at which they will try to agree on the dates of the presidential and parliamentary elections. That will be done by an inter-party group in Parliament. The proposal came on Friday from Kovacevski. Kovacevski still considers that elections should be held in ...

PM Dimitar Kovacevski has asked whether and why VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski asked for and held meetings with DUI leader Ali Ahmeti. As the PM said on Saturday, the opposition is today spreading tensions on ethnic grounds and even though it is criticising DUI, VMRO-DPMNE and Ahmeti’s party were ruling coalition partners for 11 years. “Those same parties that are ...