First Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi said that his DUI party and SDSM are still working on their plan for subsidies for private companies that hire ethnically diverse employees. Grubi originally presented the idea a month ago, and caused outrage saying that the Government will pay companies to hire ethnic Albanians.

Now he said that the plan would subsidize the hiring of other nations as well, and it is agreed in principle between the parties, but is not yet detailed.

The idea is to have just and adequate representation in private companies, especially those where the state is a partial shareholder. There is nothing problematic here and I don’t see reason for a hysteric reaction. Equal and just representation doesn’t mean only Albanians but all citizens who are minority where they live, and taking quality into account, Grubi said, adding that it could also benefit ethnic Macedonians in cities where they are in the minority.

Activists from his coalition partner SDSM were recently shown to falsely report their ethnic identity as Albanian in order to get public sector jobs set aside under the existing preferential hiring scheme.