site.btaUPDATED Republic of North Macedonia's Parliament Votes on Mickoski's Government

The Republic of North Macedonia's parliamentary sitting continues on Sunday afternoon. MPs have until midnight to vote on the country's government proposed by VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski. On Saturday, the government-forming mandate holder presented his priorities, which saw strong reactions from the opposition, who accused Mickoski of deviating from his campaign promises.

Speaking to the plenary, Mickoski said: "According to the information we have, the situation in several areas is close to clinical death, the institutions are in collapse. We will react decisively, and the public will be informed about everything. I will not ask for 100 days, but I will announce investments immediately – more than EUR 400 million as soon as Tuesday [June 25], then tax cuts and pension increases."

He said that his government will remain committed to European integration and will work to harmonize policies with European standards, advancing towards the goal of full membership in the EU.

The opposition, however, said there was a serious discrepancy between the future government's programme and its election promises. Oliver Spasovski of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia said that having EU integration as priority differs from VMRO-DPMNE's priorities over the recent years. He added that VMRO-DPMNE has no plan how to change the negotiating framework, which they stated they would do years ago.

Former deputy president of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia in charge of economic affairs, Fatmir Bytyqi, said that in the pre-election period, VMRO-DPMNE promised to have the people of North Macedonia as their priority but failed to answer what will happen to their wages and to their purchasing power in 2028.

Other critique thrown in the plenary was that Mickoski's Cabinet will have the highest number of ministers while also having the fewest women among them and that it would be hypocritical to have the country strive for European policies while being ruled by a pro-Russian minister.

Antonio Milososki of VMRO-DPMNE said: "It will take an extraordinary effort and public support to get the country back on track. Mickoski has a difficult job. We have a country dominated by corruption and inflation that needs to be transformed into a new normal country, with economic and legal security."

According to the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, discussing the programme and the composition of the government of North Macedonia can last a maximum of two days, with the voting to be completed by midnight at the latest. The government will be elected if a simple majority of the total number of MPs vote for it.

The parliamentary majority expected to support the new government in the legislature is 78 MPs.