BESA, one of the two main opposition ethnic Albanian parties, called for early elections after the failure of the Zaev Government to secure a date to open EU accession talks.

The promise that accession talks will begin this month was not kept. There are no certain guarantees from Berlin that they will begin this year. Therefore, we encourage the Prime Minister to keep his promise and call for early general elections immediately, said BESA leader Bilal Kasami.

Kasami added that, after the elections, a new political elite will be put in place which will secure the European future of the country.

Zoran Zaev met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin today, and afterwards claimed that Germany will approve the opening of accession talks in September. No such promise was contained in the press release issued by Merkel’s office, and no indication was made that this would affect the other countries which oppose the opening of accession talks, like France and the Netherlands.