Approval Expected for New Macedonian Government

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has been in power since 2006

Gruevski submitted his list of nominees to the assembly on Friday. He was charged with forming a new cabinet after his centre-right party, VMRO DPMNE, won the early June 5 elections.

Gruevski and his coalition partners control a stable majority of some 70 legislators in the 123-member parliament.

The proposed cabinet contains relatively few new names. Instead, many of the current ministers were either kept in place or rotated to different positions.

Current Vice Prime Ministers Vladimir Pesevski and Zoran Stavreski are keeping their posts. Pesevski remains in charge of economic affairs, while Stavreski will continue dealing with state finances.

Incumbent Police Minister Gordana Jankulovska, Transport Minister Mile Janakieski, Minister for Information Society Ivo Ivanovski and Culture Minister Elizabeta Kanceska-Milevska are also keeping their posts.

The Ministry of Agriculture remains in the hands of Ljupco Dimovski.

The current Minister for Education, Nikola Todorov, shifts to the Health Ministry. He will be the first minister to manage the health department who is not a medical professional.

One of the biggest surprises is Pance Kralev, nominated to take Todorov’s place at the Ministry of Education. The 30-year old Kralev, an economic policy advisor to Gruevski since 2009, has been virtually anonymous up to now.

The new Foreign Minister will be Nikola Popovski, currently Macedonia’s ambassador to the EU. His name emerged after Gruevski’s trusted associate Antonio Milososki withdrew from consideration, citing private reasons.

Spiro Ristovski will be the new Minister for Labor and Social Policy.

Another new face was drawn from the ranks of the junior government partner, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI. Valjon Saracini, an administrator at University American College in Skopje, has been nominated for Minister of Economy.

DUI’s Blerim Bexheti, the current mayor of the Saraj municipality, was named the new Minister for Justice. He will replace the incumbent, Mihajlo Manevski, who is leaving the government.

DUI legislator Teuta Arifi will enter the executive branch as the new Vice Prime Minister in charge of European Affairs, a post that was previously filled by a VMRO DPMNE nominee.

The current Minister for Local Government, Musa Xhaferi, will replace Abdulakim Ademi as the Vice Prime Minister in charge of implementing the Ohrid Framework Agreement. Ademi will shift to the Environment Ministry.

Fatmir Besimi, currently leading the Finance Ministry will be the new Defence Minister. Nevzat Bejta will be the new Minister for Local Government.

Negotiations between VMRO DPMNE and DUI went smoothly, though Gruevski was criticised for making too many concessions to his DUI partner Ali Ahmeti.

Some of the concessions are believed to favor the collective rights of the Albanian community.

Amendments already submitted to parliament include a proposal to allow greater use of the Albanian language in parliamentary meetings. Another would give greater leeway to municipalities deciding whether to display both the Albanian and Macedonian flags.

The third would grant amnesty to former Albanian insurgents who are suspected of, or already being tried for, alleged war crimes committed during the short-lived 2001 conflict in Macedonia.