English
The Parliament today approved the proposed changes to the Government, with eight new ministers being appointed. Saso Klekovski (VMRO) is the new Healthcare Minister, Gjoko Velkovski (VMRO) is the new Minister for Social Policies, Demographics and Youth and Borce Serafimovski (ZNAM) was appointed Justice Minister. VLEN candidates include Jeton Shasivari as Justice Minister, Sedat Sulejmani as Culture and Tourism Minister and Agon Ferati as Minister for Inter-Community Relations. Two VMRO-DPMNE coalition partners were also appointed – Ivan Stoiljkovic is the new Local Administration Minister and Erdzan Demir is minister who will represent the Roma community in the Government.
The new lineup of the Government was approved with 69 votes in favor and no abstentions or opposed votes, as the opposition left the hall after a number of tense discussions. Most of the tensions were focused between opposition MPs and Ivan Stoiljkovic who, as ethnic Serb, was a particular target for SDSM and DUI representatives. Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski reminded these two parties that they were actively courting Stoiljkovic during the imposed name change, trying to get him to vote in favor of the “new name” of the country.
You didn’t have a problem to run after Stoiljkovic, begging him to vote with you. He refused you because he is a man with character and dignity. And now you are trying to denigrate him. You know that this Government has a different positions on the identity issues and is a truly proud and dignified Government, Mickoski said.
In his remarks, the Prime Minister also noted the positive evaluation of Macedonia’s EU reform achievements that were praised by a number of EU officials, including Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos during her recent visit.