site.btaNorth Macedonia's Parliament Passes Law Opening Way to Government Restructuring

At a sitting that went on until 3 a.m. on Saturday, North Macedonia's Assembly voted, 88-22 without abstentions, to pass a law on the organization and operation of the state administration bodies that opens the way to restructuring of the Balkan country's government.

North Macedonia's future government, which VMRO-DPMNE Chair Hristijan Mickoski has been mandated to form, will consist of 20 ministries, up from 16 before. 

Under the revisions, the Ministry of Economy will also be responsible for labour, and the existing Ministry of Labour and Social Policy will be transformed into a Ministry of Social Policy, Demography and Youth. The Ministry of Culture will be renamed Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Four new ministries will be established: a Ministry of Sports (replacing the Agency for Youth and Sports), a Ministry of Energy, Ore Mining and Mineral Resources (taking over these functions from the Ministry of Economy), a Ministry of Digitization (successor to the Ministry of Information Technology and Administration), and Ministry of a Administration, local media report.
 
The opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) and the Left slammed the report, arguing that the sole objective pursued by the ruling majority with the reorganization of the government and the setting up of new ministries is to create jobs for the party faithful despite the extra spending of public funds.