US Official Visits Macedonia Amid Political Gridlock

Although the US embassy in Skopje says Countryman is on a scheduled tour of the region, local media have linked his visit with the current dispute caused by the opposition boycott of parliament.

"He is interested in a range of issues," US Ambassador Philip Reeker said. He explained that current issues, like judicial independence, media freedom, political dialogue and the parliament boycott "raise concern" and will also be on the table.

Countryman will hold separate meetings with centre-right Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, the head of the main opposition Social Democrats, Branko Crvenkovski, and Ali Ahmeti of the biggest ethnic Albanian party in Macedonia, the junior ruling Democratic Union for Integration.

Macedonian political party leaders failed to strike a deal and overcome the crisis at their joint meeting on Monday.

The opposition, which left the parliament two weeks ago, has accused Gruevski’s VMRO DPMNE of curbing democratic freedoms, slowing the country's movement towards EU and NATO accession and failing to deliver economic recovery.

For its part, the government has said that that the opposition is behaving irresponsibly by boycotting the institutions.

The talks on the political situation in Macedonia are expected to continue in Washington next week during Prime Minister’s Gruevski visit to the US. On Wednesday February 16, Gruevski is due to meet US Vice-President Joseph Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The US embassy and the government in Skopje have both said that the prime minister's trip to Washington was scheduled before the recent political crisis unfolded.

Meanwhile, other diplomatic representatives in the country have boosted their activities as the dispute between government and opposition forces drags on.

On Tuesday, the German and Italian ambassadors to Macedonia, Ulrike Maria Knotz and Fabio Cristiani, visited the headquarters of the main opposition party, the Social Democrats, in an effort to persuade them to end their parliament boycott.