PM Zaev and VMRO-DPMNE leader Mickoski continue to Trade accusations

In interview with Sitel TV on Friday, PM Zoran Zaev once again said the cases of the Special Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) had to have a future, adding that that was the red line “that mustn’t be crossed” in the negotiations with the opposition. According to him, the Government finds acceptable the proposal for the new Prosecutor’s Office to be headed by a prosecutor nominated by the opposition that will be afterwards be elected by the parliamentary majority and verified by the Council of Public Prosecutors. As the PM added, that person must be some heavyweight. “The Nikola Gruevski, Vladimir Jovan Ilievski or Marko Zvrlevski nomination surely cannot pass. The future of the cases is the reason,” he stressed. The same day, Mickoski said in an interview with 360° that a deal on the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PPO) issue wasn’t beneficial to SDSM because if one is reached, the ruling party would not be able to be saying VMRO-DPMNE was protecting crime “so that they can compete with the Racketeering 1 scandal”.