Macedonia Press Review – August 30, 2012

DNEVNIK
Junior ruling Democratic Union for Integration, DUI is deepening the gap with its government partner, the VMRO DPMNE party. Officials from the party have unlawfully put four plaques with names of Albanians in front of four schools in the Skopje municipality of Cair that is run by their mayor. The party also admits that the government crisis is the reason why the ethnic Albanian minister did not accompany the Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski on his road show in Canada and the USA for economic promotion of the country. The crisis started two weeks ago when the defense minister Fatmir Besimi laid flowers before an Albanian guerilla war memorial from 2001, a move seen as provocation by many Macedonians.

UTRINSKI VESNIK
From the start of election campaigns, government ministers and their deputies should perform only technical duties in order to ensure clear distinction between the state and the political parties. This is one of the key notes of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE regarding the proposed changes to the Macedonian election laws. This provision that should be incorporated in the legislation should put an end to the practice where government officials appeared at public events like groundbreaking ceremonies during political campaigns.

Balkan Insight has not verified the reports and cannot vouch for their accuracy.