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European Western Balkans
Politics

Caretaker Government of North Macedonia appointed ahead of elections

Parliament of North Macedonia; Photo: Wikimedia Commons

SKOPJE — After the Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev had resigned ahead of the early elections, the Parliament approved a new caretaker government under the former Minister of Interior Oliver Spasovski, reports Tanjug.

Spasovski, who served in Zaev’s administration, will be heading the caretaker government which is to organize the polls scheduled for April 12. The decision to call elections came after the EU blocked the start of membership talks with Skopje, the key policy goal of Zaev’s cabinet.

The main opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE, now runs the Interior Ministry, the Social Policies Ministry and several other posts, Balkan Insight reports.

The formation of the caretaker government and the inclusion of opposition ministers and deputy ministers in several key posts stems from the so-called Przino political agreement of 2015.

Amid a deep political crisis, the main parties then agreed that 100 days ahead of every general election, a caretaker government would be established to ensure a fair vote and remove doubts about ballot-rigging and political pressures, Balkan Insight reminds. This model is now being implemented again.

After taking office in 2017, Zaev has achieved a normalization agreement with Greece (2018) that brought a decades-long dispute to an end, which has been criticized by opposition parties and the far-right community.

Even though the agreement with Greece lead to North Macedonia almost joining NATO, the EU membership is being put on hold for now.

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