Macedonia’s premier quits, citing stalled reforms

Citing the lack of “genuine teamwork” within his coalition,
Macedonia’s Prime Minister Hari Kostov has handed in his
resignation.

Having spent less than half a year in office, Macedonia’s Prime
Minister Hari Kostov resigned on 16 November from the head of his
centre-left coalition. “I am not ready to put up with inefficient
work in the government, including putting conditions on and
blocking the reform process, in the political sphere and above all
in the economic sphere,” said Kostov.

The 45-year-old Kostov blamed the ethnic Albanian
Democratic Union for Integration party for hijacking the country’s
political agenda and pursuing “single-issue politics”, which he
said was clearly bad for the country. 

“I think that one of the coalition parties sees its place in
government as an instrument for the partial implementation of the
political processes of the Ohrid agreement. […] They promote only
their own national and party ends,” he said.

The 2001 Ohrid peace accord ended months of guerrilla conflict
in the ex-Yugoslav republic. It granted more rights to the ethnic
Albanians, who represent 25% of the population, but has
fuelled resentment among nationalist Macedonians.

The Macedonian parliament will decide on Kostov’s resignation on
18 November, after which President Branko Crvenkovski has ten days
to nominate a new government.

Macedonia, formally recognised as the Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia (FYROM), signed an association agreement with the EU
in 2001 and formally applied for membership in March 2004.

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