ANKARA
The months-long political crisis in Macedonia was brought to an end Wednesday, after an EU-mediated agreement was reached between the leaders of four parliamentary political parties.
According to the agreement, Macedonia’s embattled prime minister Nikola Gruevski will resign at the end of this year, with the country going to early parliamentary elections on April 24, 2016.
The agreement was announced in the early hours of Wednesday, after a marathon meeting among the leaders of Macedonian parties, mediated by the EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn.
The meeting was attended by the ruling Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE) leader Nikola Gruevski, opposition Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM) leader Zoran Zaev and the leaders of pro-Albanian parties - head of the Democratic Union for Integration Ali Ahmeti and head of the Democratic Party of Albanians Menduh Thaci.
Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska, Transport and Communications Minister Mile Janakievski and the chief of Macedonian Security and Intelligence Agency, Saso Mijalkov - all considered close associates of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski - resigned in mid-May amid a political crisis, a wiretapping scandal and ethnic tensions in the small Balkan country.
The three officials, who occupied posts since Gruevski came to power in 2006, were involved in alleged wiretapping scandals made public by the Macedonian opposition.
Opposition head Zoran Zaev had divulged since February scores of recordings, claiming that the prime minister Gruevski and his intelligence chief Mijalkov had ordered the illegal surveillance of up to 20,000 people, including ministers and journalists.
Opposition parties have staged several huge protests in the capital Skopje, in recent months, calling for the prime minister to resign.
Macedonia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, now aspires to join the European Union and NATO.
Turkey welcomes the agreement
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Wednesday in a statement that it “welcomes” the EU-brokered agreement, which brings an end to the “political tension” in Macedonia.
