Ruling Party Denies Plot Against Macedonia EU Council

This comes after Sekerinska, an MP from the opposition Social Democrats, voiced suspicion that the ruling VMRO DPMNE party stands behind a recent motion for her dismissal.
 
"This does not make sense," Silvana Boneva, the vice president of the Council and an MP from the ruling party, told Balkan Insight.
 
Boneva said that Sekerinska's appointment as head of the council in 2007 "was agreed with the opposition and we have had good cooperation with her".
 
Last week Ivan Stoiljkovic, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Serbs in Macedonia, which is part of the ruling coalition, accused Shekerinska of offending his ethnicity. He filed a motion for her dismissal. As the post must be held by an opposition lawmaker, it cannot be filled by a member of the ruling coalition.
 
"Stoiljkovic is just a cover up for VMRO DPMNE," Sekerinska said.

"The Government does not like discussion on why the country lags behind with its EU and NATO accession bids, on increased poverty and the low level of foreign investments, " she added.
 
Sekerinska recently criticised the government for a lack of democratic capacity and for a failure to adopt reforms required by the EU. She accuses the centre-right majority of preventing the country from moving forward with its EU and NATO membership bids.
 
While the European Commission in 2009 recommended that Macedonia begin its EU accession talks, this has not yet happened because of the Greek blockade over the unresolved name dispute.
 
Athens insists that Skopje’s official name, the Republic of Macedonia, implies territorial claims against its own northern province, also called Macedonia.
 
The Parliamentary Council for European Integration, which includes representatives from the government, the President's office, the business community, the journalists' association and the workers' union, has a coordinative function and no executive power.