Commenting on his meeting with US special envoy to the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar, VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski Saturday told reporters that had been a "constructive and friendly meeting between strategic friends". The meeting was held at the US Embassy in Skopje on Friday.
Mickoski, who heads the main opposition force in North Macedonia, said that he had explained to Escobar why VMRO-DPMNE is against the adoption of the Cabinet-sponsored constitutional changes and wants early parliamentary elections. "Our biggest priority is people's quality of life and the conditions in which our fellow citizens live. Changing that requires early general elections, because this government has zero trust and its only platform and policy - to accept Bulgaria's dictate - has failed. That was clear to see when it became clear they do not have 80 MPs in Parliament," Mickoski told reporters.
Artan Grubi, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Political System and Inter-Community Relations, commented on Sunday that the topic of early elections was not on the agenda of Friday's visit of Gabriel Escobar to North Macedonia. The visit focused on the successful adoption of the constitutional changes and the continuation of the country's European path.
In Grubi's words, in the two months since the government adopted the draft changes, which are only technical, and tabled them in Parliament, there has not been any debate yet: neither in the academic community nor in NGOs and the media. There has been only a political debate: should there be early elections and should one government or another be formed, he noted. Grubi expressed the hope that a way forward will be found not only with part of the MPs but with the entire VMRO-DPMNE. "Then, if they want us to disband Parliament, we will do it on the very same day we pass the constitutional changes. We have already tendered resignations and given up on the idea to have an Albanian for prime minister in the name of EU membership," Grubi commented.
In an interview with the "360 Gradusa" newspaper about his visit to Skopje, Escobar said that he would like VMRO-DPMNE to explain to the public its dilemma as opposition, claiming to be for EU integration but against constitutional changes, which are a condition for the opening of the negotiating chapters with the European Union. He reiterated that it was not for the US to determine whether early elections are the solution to the problem - a matter that is to be decided by the citizens of North Macedonia.
/DS/
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