Shortly before midnight, the government of Dimitar Kovachevsky received a vote of confidence from Parliament.
In particular, 62 deputies voted in favor of the government, 46 voted against it, while 12 abstained from voting. The Parliament of Northern Macedonia has a total of 120 seats.
The new cabinet has 21 members. Twelve come from the Social Democratic Party (SDSM), led by Dimitar Kovacevski, six of the country’s largest Albanian party, Ali Ahmeti’s DUI, three of the other Albanian party in the new government, the Alternative.
Dimitar Kovacevski, during yesterday’s debate in Parliament on the program statements of his government, said that its priorities will be to address the energy crisis in the country, increase citizens’ incomes, implement infrastructure projects and strengthen its European perspective. Northern Macedonia.
The main opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE, sees the new government as a continuation of its predecessor, Zoran Zaef, who has said it has failed in all of its goals and reiterated its call for early parliamentary elections.
The new government does not include several members of the previous government of Zoran Zaef, who, after the heavy defeat of SDSM in the municipal elections held last October, resigned as Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia and the leadership of the party, running for office. Dimitar Kovachevsky.
Among others, the new government does not include the current deputy prime minister in charge of European affairs, Nikola Dimitrov, former Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska and former Health Minister Venko Filipce (from the SDSM).
On the contrary, the ministers from the largest Albanian party DUI (Foreign Affairs, Finance, Economy, Environment) remained unchanged in their positions.
Dimitar Kovacevski, 50, who served as Deputy Finance Minister in Zoran Zaef’s last government, has a reputation as a technocrat; until his resignation, he was relatively unknown to the public.
Analysts in Skopje are questioning whether the government of Dimitar Kovacevski will be able to complete its government term, which typically lasts another two and a half years. This is because the largest party in the ruling coalition, the SDSM, suffered a landslide defeat in the recent municipal elections in the country, which caused serious upheaval within it, while the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE, which currently appears as the largest political force in the country. country, argues in high tones that the new government has no legitimacy, as there is a mismatch between government and popular will, as expressed in the municipal elections. Nevertheless, Dimitar Kovachevsky says his government will end its term and rule out early elections.
The veto of Bulgaria
One of the “hot” issues that the government of Dimitar Kovacevski will be called upon to manage is that of relations with Bulgaria, which for more than a year has prevented the start of accession negotiations between Northern Macedonia and the EU due to open national, linguistic and historical issues. disputes between the two countries.
A few days ago, Nikola Dimitrov claimed that he was excluded from the new government due to his disagreements over the position of the Northern Macedonian government in the conflict with Bulgaria, while stating that he does not trust the country’s Foreign Minister. , Bujar Osmani (of the Albanian DUI party) ahead of the country’s negotiations with Sofia.
Bulgaria’s new Prime Minister Kirill Petkov will be the first foreign leader to meet with Dimitar Kovachevsky. Petkov will visit Skopje tomorrow, Tuesday 18 January, where he will meet with the new Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia, focusing on the “problematic” relations between the two countries and the possibility of their partial normalization through the formation of joint cooperation committees in various fields.
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