North-Macedonian VMRO-DPMNE party leader Hristiyan Mitskoski announced that he expects to receive a mandate to form a government on June 6 from President Gordana Silyanovska-Davkova, BGNES reported.
Government negotiations with the Albanian coalition VREDI/VLEN have been successful. They will probably be joined by the ZNAM movement. The three formations can form a majority of 78 deputies in the 120-seat parliament. The names of the ministers will be presented "soon" and within the 20-day statutory period after receiving the mandate.
"The negotiations on the formation of the government departments are almost over. I expect tomorrow that President Siljanovska will give the mandate to the clearly declared majority, which became clear already when Afrim Gashi was elected as the Speaker of the National Assembly," said the future Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia.
"We are still thinking because of some upcoming religious holidays such as Ramadan and the birthday of VMRO-DPMNE - June 17. We have several things to agree on, but of course, I expect the future government to be voted before the deadline set according to the law and the constitution," he added.
At a press conference in the Macedonian parliament, Mitskoski also responded to the reactions from official Athens and the request from Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis that the question of Skopje's violation of the Treaty could be raised at the upcoming NATO summit in Washington.
The prime minister-to-be said there was "hysteria" in Greece and declared it was his human right to call his country "Macedonia". Mickoski urged Greek politicians not to behave like the Taliban regarding the Prespa Agreement.
"I assume that the hysteria in the southern neighbour is because of the elections. I do not expect Taliban attitude and Taliban behaviour from any politician, as well as censorship of basic human rights. Everything contained in the Prespa Agreement is part of our legal system and constitutional order, the future VMRO-DPMNE government will respect it. My human right, guaranteed by many conventions, is the right to freedom of expression and speech. I am not angry with politicians when they do not say the complete name of their country, but only the end or part of this name. My homeland in every speech I make is Macedonia and it will remain Macedonia," said Hristiyan Mickoski.
"If the issue is raised at the NATO summit in July, my message will be that 'I would like to build bridges of cooperation with our neighbours, including our southern neighbour, the eastern neighbour, the northwestern one. Macedonia and the people are peaceful and hospitable. So we behave, I expect our neighbours to behave as well - to cooperate and maintain good neighbourly relations," he added.
BGNES recalls that during his swearing-in on May 12, the new president of the RSM, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, used only the name "Macedonia" instead of the official name - the Republic of North Macedonia, in violation of the Prespa Agreement. It caused an international diplomatic scandal.
The contract was signed on June 17, 2018, in the village of Nivitsi on the shores of the Great Prespa Lake by the then-foreign ministers of both countries, Nikos Kodzias and Nikola Dimitrov. Prime Ministers Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev were also present. The agreement ended a long-standing dispute over Macedonia's name between authorities in Skopje and Athens.
Both Siljanovska and Mickoski "reminded" Athens that it can turn to the International Court of Justice if it sees a violation of the agreements.
Today, Hristiyan Mitskoski submitted to the parliament a draft law for a new structure of the RSM government and proposed that it be considered in a shortened procedure.
Part of the ministries will be transformed by adding or removing specific departments. The reform was part of the pre-election program of VMRO-DPMNE under the name "Platform 1198".
A 2/3 majority in parliament is required to pass the law. | BGNES
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