With 77 votes “for” and 22 “against” the new government of North Macedonia, led by the right-wing party VMRO-DPMNE and with the leader of this party as prime minister, Christian Mickoski, received a vote of confidence from the Parliament of the North just before midnight Macedonia.

At the swearing-in ceremony, which followed the vote of confidence, both Christian Mickoski and the ministers of the new government were sworn in according to the country’s constitutional name “Republic of North Macedonia”.

“I swear that I will exercise the office of prime minister/minister responsibly and conscientiously, in accordance with the laws and the Constitution of the Republic of of North Macedonia”, exclaimed the new prime minister and the ministers of his government, repeating the oath dictated by the speaker of the Parliament of North Macedonia, Afrim Gassi.

Christian Mickoski, in his rebuttal during the debate in Parliament on his government’s programmatic statements and shortly before the vote of confidence in his government, justifying his choice to be sworn in as prime minister with the country’s constitutional name, described as “disgraceful” the designation “North” in the constitutional name of his country, but as he said it is now part of the legal system of the country and with which, as he added, he is called to “capitulate”.

He himself, a few days ago, had declared that in the swearing-in of his government he would use the country’s constitutional name (s.s. Republic of North Macedonia), which the opposition criticized during the debate in Parliament on the programmatic statements of the new government, accusing it of “duplicity” and “hypocritical attitude”.

“I say that this designation (s.s. North), which I have to pronounce during my swearing-in, is shameful, as it reminds me personally of the shame you have brought to my country, my family and my unborn grandchildren and them after these. And as long as I live, both politically and as a person, I will do everything in my power to right this injustice. Unfortunately, at the moment I am powerless and I must at this stage capitulate before you and say this shameful determination, because unfortunately it is part of the law and the Constitution that I have to respect as the head of the government,” said Christian Mickoski, who however, in his deuteronomy and also during the reading of his government’s programmatic statements, on Saturday, he called the country “Macedonia”.

Christian Mickoski, who has led the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE since 2017, has repeatedly stated in the past that he will never call the country “North Macedonia”, even if it means being stripped of his prime ministership in the future.

The new prime minister of North Macedonia noted that under no circumstances will he succumb to “Bulgaria’s blackmail” and accept the change of the country’s Constitution, in order to integrate the Bulgarian minority living in North Macedonia.

The 46-year-old new Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Christian Mickoski, is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Skopje. In addition to VMRO-DPMNE, his government also includes the previously opposition Albanian coalition called “Axizia” and the newly formed Slavic party “Xero” of the mayor of Kumanovo, Maksim Dimitrievsky.

This three-party government will have the support of 78 MPs in the Parliament, out of the 120 that the Parliament has in total, and will have a comfortable parliamentary majority.

The new government scheme consists of 23 ministries. VMRO-DPMNE has a total of 15 ministers, the Albanian coalition “Deserves” six ministers, while the “Know” party has two ministers. Of the 23 ministers of the new government, only three are women.

From the composition of the new government it follows that the most important ministries in it will be controlled by VMRO-DPMNE.

Thus, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade is 35-year-old Timco Mucunski, who is currently one of the four vice-presidents of VMRO-DPMNE and the mayor of Aerodrome, the largest municipality among the ten in the Skopje urban complex.

The new finance minister is Gordana Dimitrievska-Kochoska, who is also currently one of the four vice-presidents of VMRO-DPMNE.

It is noted that in recent years, the two important ministries were controlled by the now-defunct co-ruling Albanian DUI party of Ali Ahmet, which – after 20 years – switched to the opposition.

The Ministry of the Interior (which includes the police) is taken over by Pance Toskovski, also a VMRO-DPMNE executive, while the Ministry of Defense is held by Vlado Misailovski, who is also one of the VMRO-DPMNE vice-presidents. The newly created Ministry of Energy is taken over by Sania Bozinovska, an energy expert and adviser to Christian Mickoski on energy issues.

The new government of North Macedonia emerges after the parliamentary elections in the country, which were held on May 8, in which VMRO-DPMNE came first, occupying 58 of the 120 seats in the Parliament. 18 seats were taken by the outgoing ruling Social Democratic Party (SDSM) and the outgoing co-ruling Albanian party DUI. The coalition of four opposition Albanian parties with the name “Axizia” took 14 seats, while the nationalist, pro-Russian party “Left” and the party “Xero” secured six seats.