It seems that within the last 24 hours, the “solution” to the crises in the Balkan countries has been found.
Following back-to-back meetings and international pressure – Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Hoyt Brian Yee, EU Representative Federica Mogherini, Commissioner Johannes Hahn, European People’s Party Vice-President David McAllister, MEP Knut Fleckenstein, and EU and US ambassadors in each state, it seems that the political leaders in Macedonia, Kosovo, and Albania have managed to at least decide on the next steps: Macedonia will start the formation of a new government, Kosovo will hold snap elections, and in Albania the opposition will participate in the elections.
Macedonia
In Macedonia, President Gjorgje Ivanov gave the mandate to form the new government to SDSM leader Zoran Zaev. The latter will form the governing coalition with Albanian minority parties.
Since December 2016, when the parliamentary elections were held after Gruevski’s resignation, the government hadn’t been formed in Macedonia, causing a deep political crisis.
Several times over the past few months, President Ivanov refused to give the mandate to the opposition leader. The main reason for the refusal was the so-called “Tirana platform,” an agreement reached between the Albanian parties on January 7 in Tirana, under the auspices of Prime Minister Edi Rama.
Kosovo
It seems that also in Kosovo the election campaign for the June 11 snap elections has been launched.
Yesterday, the pre-election coalitions were registered at the Central Election Committee, where the most surprising one was the co-operation between Ramush Haradinaj’s Alliance for Kosovo’s Future (AAK) and the the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) of Kadri Veseli, the latter being the party that was part of the ruling coalition and that voted for the fall of Isa Mustafa’s government. The candidate for prime minister of this coalition is Ramush Haradinaj, head of AAK.
For a while, the political situation in Kosovo was tense due to the lack of action in parliament. The opposition repeatedly accused the government for the failure of the ruling coalition in adopting important laws.
Albania
Also in Albania, just after midnight, Prime Minister Rama and Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha reached an agreement on the resolution of the crisis and the participation of opposition parties in the elections. Although the technical details of the reached agreement are still unknown, EU, US, and OSCE ambassadors have welcomed the decision and congratulated the political leaders.
Today, the final election date and all the technical ministers that have been offered to the opposition are expected to be announced. For this reason, Prime Minister Rama, accompanied by Secretary General of the Council of Ministers Ëngjëll Agaçi, and PD leader Lulzim Basha, accompanied by the deputy Oerd Bylykbashi, have started a few hours ago a meeting at the Palace of Congresses.
