Despite Zoran Zaev’s urgency in pushing for a new law on state prosecutors in light of the spectacular corruption scandal involving the Special Prosecutor’s Office, Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi decided that the draft law Zaev proposed will be discussed on August 27th. It was initially speculated that Xhaferi might call the members of Parliament back from their summer vacation in order to discuss the law.

This is close to the early September date when disgraced Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva’s mandate expires. Zaev insisted that a solution will be found by early September, using “unwanted methods” if necessary – a reference to his bribing and blackmailing of opposition members of Parliament, many of them prosecuted by Janeva herself on politically motivated charges, to force them to vote in favor of renaming Macedonia. Zaev wants to appoint another loyalist – prosecutor Vilma Ruskoska to Janeva’s place. VMRO-DPMNE responded to his move by rejecting Ruskoska and proposing a law of their own which would disband Janeva’s entire team, until they are investigated for their ties to the racketeering scandal.

A two thirds majority is necessary to adopt any law on the matter. Some of the European Union member states, especially those skeptical about Macedonia’s request to open accession talks, have asked for tangible measures in fighting corruption in order to approve the opening of the talks in October, and have made making the Special Prosecutor’s Office a permanent institution one of their chief requests. This was before the thorough tarring of the reputation of this institution that happened over the past two weeks.