Thursday, 2 March, 2017 - 17:00
Goran Zaev, leader of Macedonia’s Social Democrats sponsored by George Soros, expected to be able to form a new government, having found an agreement with the biggest Albanian party over a law backing broader use of their language in the country.
But President Gjorge Ivanov said he would not give a mandate to anyone supporting “a platform undermining Macedonia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence”.
The website of Macedonian daily Dnevnik quoted Ivanov’s message to the nation, in which he said that he would not give the mandate to either coalition, while a “platform sponsored by another country” puts the country’s sovereignty in danger.
He said that the platform of the parties of ethnic Albanians in Macedonia, which is a condition for their participation in a government coalition, has been “elaborated with the meddling of a prime minister of a foreign country”, referring to Albanian PM Edi Rama.
Zaev hit back by accusing the president of launching a “coup” and leading the small Balkan country into a “deep crisis with immeasurable consequences”.
Source: Euractiv.