In an interview with the state ran MIA news agency, Zoran Zaev says that he has no intention of removing Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva from her position. Zaev is involved in talks with the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party over the fate of Janeva’s SPO office, which has been instrumental in prosecuting VMRO officials and allowing Zaev to take over power and rename the country. It is expected that the outcome of these talks will affect whether Macedonia will receive an invitation to open European Union accession talks this summer.

For me it is an institutional matter and Katica Janeva and her team of prosecutors and investigators and all others who work there were the one speck of hope in a very difficult time to bring back the rule of law in the country and this hope is now returning in our country. I am certain that we mustn’t sent out negative messages to those who survived and defied and believed in the state and the system and the Constitution and the laws in a difficult time. We need to support their abilities, Zaev told MIA.

A new round of talks between SDSM and VMRO on the SPO is expected on Friday. VMRO demands Zaev meets his pre-election promise that the opposition will appoint the state Public Prosecutor, and demands and end to the constant campaign of arrests and intimidation of opposition officials and activists in which the Government is using both the SPO and the regular state prosecutors.