The DUI party announced a major new hiring push of ethnic Albanians in the public administration. The party briefed ethnic Albanian papers that the Government will add 800 new public sector employees – 640 of whom will be ethnic Albanians.

We can get things done more easily now. We have the First Deputy Prime Minister, Artan Grubi, from DUI, and we also have the Finance Minister Fatmir Besimi. There will be more hiring to achieve adequate representation, DUI sources told the Lajm paper.

The Government meanwhile gave up on the idea of forcing the estimated 1,350 ethnic Albanians hired to ensure “adequate representation” to actually take up a job. These candidates were hired through the department now ran by Grubi and receive salaries but were never assigned to an actual post. Former Public Administration Damjan Mancevski insisted for years that he will resolve this issue and force the so-called “framework employees” to start going to work. In the end, Mancevski was removed from office and himself joined the private sector, while his department was also taken over by DUI, while Grubi assured the idle employees that they will not be fired if they refuse the offer of an actual job posting.

A combination of one party controlling the Finance Ministry and the Public Administration Ministry, not to mention the powerful role Grubi has as Zaev’s de-facto co-Prime Minister, ensures that the largest Albanian party has unprecedented clout when it comes to public sector hiring. A number of cases were reported recently that ethnic Macedonians or Vlachs, supporters of the ruling SDSM party, falsely claim they are Albanians in order to be hired under the “adequate representation” rules.