In an interview with the Albanian language news site Zhurnal, VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski blamed the loss of the expected date to open EU accession talks on Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.

He went to Brussels to beg for the date, and at the same time, he had the Parliament smuggle through amendments on the drug law which should bring benefits to the Zaev family business. The law was declared as part of the EU accession process. All this crime, the corruption, the lack of actual reforms, it all contributes to the NO we got. Do you really think nobody sees what they’re doing?, Mickoski said.

Mickoski cited the comments from the Dutch and the French ambassadors to Macedonia as evidence that the country will continue to remain stuck until it begins to set its house in order.

They cite the crime, the high level corruption linked with the Government, the lack of reforms in the judiciary. Everything that Zaev criticized in the past and declared as part of a regime, he now advanced, perfected, and has made matters worse. In light of all this, we can’t expect a different outcome, Mickoski told Zhurnal.