Members of Macedonian Commission of Inquiry Named

Macedonian parliament

Macedonia's ruling VMRO DPMNE party has proposed two MPs, Blagorodna Dulic and Ilija Dimovski, a former judge and a lawyer, as its nominees for the five-member commission of inquiry.

The opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, have proposed two Skopje law professors Renata Deskovska and Ljubomir Frckoski.

The proposals come after the secretary generals of the two parties, Andrej Petrov from the SDSM and Kiril Bozinovski from VMRO DPMNE, met twice over the weekend. The two are to meet again to continue talks.

“Our proposals are good ones. We have proposed experts on constitutional law and political systems,” Petrov said.

The formation of the commission was agreed as part of a EU-brokered deal struck on March 1.

The agreement ended a months-long political crisis in the country, which began on December 24, when the government parties passed a budget for 2013 in only minutes, after opposition MPs and journalists were expelled from the chamber.

Weeks of street protests followed, along with a boycott of parliament and an opposition threat to boycott the forthcoming local elections.

The findings of the new inquiry will help inform an important European Commission report on Macedonia, which is due in spring.

Earlier this month, President Gjorge Ivanov said that the commission, which is to operate under his patronage, should be operational within two weeks. However, there have been slight delays.

It is still unclear who the fifth member of the commission, who is to be proposed by the President, will be. It is also unclear who will lead the commission.

According to the EU-brokered deal, the head of the commission should be chosen from among the five members by a process of consensus from the two opposing parties.