SKOPJE – Brussels expects the swift formation of a new broad coalition government and the complete enablement of all conditions for the SPO, says spokeswoman Maja Kocijančič for the European Commission for Macedonian news agency “Meta”, after the statement made by the leader of VMRO-DPMNE Nikola Gruevski that he would not agree to an extension of the mandate for the SPO.
“The EU looks forward to the swift formation of a new, “broad-based” government and to its programme. The continued implementation of all parts of the Pržino Agreement and the Urgent Reform Priorities are crucial in this respect. The Special Prosecutor’s Office is an integral part of the Pržino Agreement and must be given the conditions and time necessary to complete its important work”, said Kocijančič for “Meta”.
Nikola Gruevski received the mandate to form a government from President Gjorge Ivanov on Monday.
Gruevski in an interview with the daily newspaper “Dnevnik”, said that VMRO-DPMNE will not agree to an extension of the SPO’s deadline and that by prolonging the SPO’s deadlines, the political crisis will certainly be prolonged.
“There are no legal or essential needs for an extension of those 18 months for the SPO, but there are political needs of certain external factors in order to realize some of their other goals and interests. The idea of prolonging the 18 months did not originate from the SPO. This I know, I am not making assumptions. For these reasons, we have decided that VMRO-DPMNE will not agree to extend the deadline for the SPO and we have published this several times already. Nor those two other requests related to the Law on Witness Protection and court departments for cases of SPO”, said Gruevski.