VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski warned Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi that they are playing with fire, after the VMRO members of Parliament were not allowed to speak during the discussion in the vote of no confidence procedure for Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski.

Xhaferi claimed a technicality when he stripped the VMRO representatives of their speaking right, which destroyed all purpose of the session and prompted a walk-out. Zaev’s coalition barely has 62 seats in the 120 seat Parliament, and just weeks ago he was reduced to asking VMRO to help him ensure quorum so that the legislative body could hold sessions.

After those stolen “corona elections” which Zaev abused and still barely had a draw against us, we said that his Government is not stable and the Parliament is not functional. I kept asking for a meeting since before New Year and eventually in March we met and agreed to open the processes in the Parliament. But the behavior of the Speaker, helped by the narrow SDSM led parliamentary majority today complicating matters ever further. It shows us that nothing has been resolved and the situation could quickly escalate. I tell them not to play with fire because they are the ones who will get burnt, Mickoski said.

The incident today opens the prospect of VMRO denying their help to Zaev in the necessary quorum in the Parliament, which could grind down the legislative agenda again.