Due to the lack of interest on the part of the Government, VMRO-DPMNE has withdrawn its offer to contribute its expertise in the European Union related reforms, opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski said.

We offered to help out until October so we can jointly receive the date to open EU accession talks. But, weeks after the offer, we received no response. We will continue to lobby on this issue with our European sister parties, Mickoski said.

Macedonia was denied the June date to open accession talks which Zaev promised last summer, and the next European Council on this issue will be held in October. Mickoski said that the two reasons why Macedonia was not given the date are the lack of reforms and the decision to consider Macedonia as part of an enlargement group with Albania – a decision which the Zaev Government didn’t push back against.

Sadly there are not enough reforms. It all looks good on paper, but the implementation is not there. From the latest Raskovski affair and going back, reports prepared by EU member states have recorded the corruption and the abuse of the judiciary. The second issue is that Zaev is blackmailed by his mentor Edi Rama, and he joined Macedonia and Albania together on their road to the EU, Mickoski said.