Seat of the Macedonian government in Skopje – © Chris_Hall/Shutterstock
In North Macedonia, the composition of the executive has changed again. Social Democrat Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski’s goal is to bring home the constitutional reforms necessary to revive the race for the EU by the next elections in 2024
The SDSM and DUI-led government in North Macedonia changed its composition at the end of February 2023 with the entry of the opposition party Alliance for Albanians. The new government ally will manage the ministries of Justice, Health, Society and Digital Administration and has also received two deputy ministerial posts. The Alternative Party, on the other hand, left the government coalition, which it joined only a year ago, in January 2022.
The opening of the procedure for constitutional amendments within the framework of the “French proposal” and the inclusion of Bulgarian citizens in the Constitution will be the main mission of the “new” government. This is how local analysts comment on the decision.
An impossible challenge?
The main dilemma, however, is whether the government’s priorities can be realized before the 2024 election, as the government lacks the necessary 2/3 majority or 81 out of 120 MPs needed to push for constitutional changes. The main opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE, has already stated very clearly that it will not support changing the constitution and is calling for early elections.
SDSM offered snap elections after changing the Constitution, a model of broad agreements or unification towards a common European platform. But none of this is acceptable for VMRO-DPMNE at the moment.
“Regarding the constitutional amendments, it is very important to point out that this request does not come from the good neighborly agreement with Bulgaria (since 2017) but was added recently, and VMRO-DPMNE was excluded from the negotiations which included this request (the so-called Bulgarian/French proposal), even though we asked to be part of the working group for these processes,” the opposition’s Stefan Andonovski told local media. “In this way, Kovacevski’s government assumes commitments it cannot fulfill, for which it has not received an electoral mandate and which are a lie both for internal public opinion and for the country’s international supporters”.
Although local media raise the question of whether SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE are discussing support for constitutional amendments and how much they are related to the option of early parliamentary elections, there are no concrete responses from the ruling party.
“Our focus is on the implementation of these policies, on all obligations relating to the implementation of what has been agreed with the EU, on reforms and on crisis management. Everything that depends on the SDSM and the government we will do by the 2024 elections,” SDSM’s Stefan Bogoev told local reporters. “First there will be the presidential elections and then the parliamentary ones. The concept of higher wages, pensions and SDSM-led European integration will win”.
On issues such as improving relations with Bulgaria and unblocking the veto on EU entry, VMRO-DPMNE says this will be possible when there is an equal basis of communication with the neighboring country.
The internal problems at DUI
In order for the government to survive, Kovacevski also has a problem with an ordinary majority in parliament. In fact, it is said that the government reshuffle is linked to the division within the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI).
Since September 2022, the so-called “Fire Group” (an informal structure bringing together some important political figures of the party who have not received high positions in government) has called for structural reforms in the party, accusing current DUI officials of not working for the benefit of citizens, but only for themselves. The “Fire Group” at the party leadership has demanded that the “war” in the party end and that some government officials take responsibility and also be replaced.
Although the DUI made some changes in October and gave seats to the “Fire Group” in the party’s governing bodies, the discontent does not stop, so the votes of several MPs are uncertain. This group regularly brings together party structures to show that the grassroots are with them, but so does the party leadership through President Ali Ahmeti and party officials who are ministers in the government.
Changing governments
Since the 2020 snap election, there is a change in the composition of the government almost every year. Then Prime Minister Zoran Zaev had stated that he would step down if he lost the local elections in October 2021. And he did, making way for Dimitar Kovacevski to form the government in January 2021. Due to the current political developments, Kovacevski also had to make changes.
The main challenge is the first intergovernmental conference with the EU and getting the date to start EU accession negotiations. For this, the Constitution should be amended to enshrine the rights of Bulgarians in the country, after which Bulgaria should give its consent for the start of EU accession negotiations.
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