After two days and more than 16 hours of debates, the parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia voted late on Sunday night the government of Hristijan Mickoski. Of the deputies who participated in the vote, 77 voted “for”, and 26 “against” the new government, BTA reported.
The already elected Prime Minister of the country Hristiyan Mitskoski and the ministers in the VMRO-DPMNE government and the coalition “Your Macedonia”, the coalition of Albanian parties VLEN and the movement ZNAM took an oath, in which they pronounced the constitutional name of the state and signed the oath sheets.
Deputies from the European Front coalition did not participate in the vote. They left the plenary hall because of the shortened list of declared participants in the debate.
Last in the debate before the election and swearing in, Hristian Mickoski spoke, who said that during the swearing in he would pronounce “this shameful addition” (ie "Northern") to the name of his country, but will continue to fight “against injustice”.
„Citizens need focus, they need a higher standard, higher wages. Peaceful life, desire to live here in Macedonia. The attacks I have heard these two days boil down to two theses - the Treaty of Prespa and the French proposal (ie the negotiating framework - ed.). This Bulgarian diktat will not pass while I am prime minister and there will be no changes in the constitution. As long as I live I will correct the injustice, at this moment I am powerless. I'll have to say that awkward adjective. You will see what work means. My fight will be every day not to disappoint the citizens. What I promise is that I won't give up. Our citizens deserve better. In a few hours, the first 100 days of the new government begin. In the first 100 days we will cut taxes and increase pensions. We announce a front against corruption, launch of capital infrastructure projects”, Mickoski said.
And while in the debate on these two days, VMRO-DPMNE repeated the main commitments in the government program and attacked the bad management of the state in their opinion by the previous SDSM government and the Democratic Union for Integration, the opposition parties attacked the future rulers because of promises from the pre-election campaign campaign that have not been fulfilled and will not be fulfilled.
While for VMRO-DPMNE "this is a big day because the most incompetent and most criminal government is leaving", according to the SDSM "with some exceptions, the proposed ministers will probably play an episodic role".
During the second day of the meeting, Ivan Mihailov and the club bearing his name, which was deleted from the registers in the country, were also involved in the debate. While Vesna Bendevska from ZNAM attacked the SDSM that it was they who allowed the registration of the club, which bears the name of a “proven collaborator of fascism”, the Commission for Prevention and Protection from Discrimination, of which she was a member, managed to ban the association. Former minister Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojchevska, for her part, replied that it is VMRO-DPMNE who are defending Ivan Mihailov, because they consider themselves the successors of VMRO, whose chairman was Ivan Mihailov.
The Treaty of Prespa, the Treaty of Friendship and Good Neighborhood with Bulgaria and European integration were also among the highlights of the debate. VMRO-DPMNE accused the previous government that North Macedonia did not receive a date for the start of negotiations with the EU, and SDSM stated that there was no concept of European integration in the government program and that VMRO-DPMNE's promises that the Prespa contract would be terminated and the old constitutional name of the state will be returned, and the agreement with Bulgaria and the negotiation framework – renegotiated, are false.
European integration, fighting crime and corruption, economic development, balanced regional development, bringing the government closer to citizens, reducing taxes, increasing pensions and wages, building good relations with neighbors and promoting inter-ethnic relations are the highlights in the program of the government of VMRO-DPMNE, ZNAM and the coalition of Albanian parties VLEN.
The government has a total of 24 members, including the prime minister, who will have five deputy prime ministers. First Deputy Prime Minister is the chairman of the Democratic Movement, part of the VLEN coalition, Izet Majiti, who will also be the Minister of Environment and Ecology. VLEN has another deputy prime minister - Arben Fetai, who will be responsible for good governance. Hristiyan Mitskoski's other deputy prime ministers are VMRO-DPMNE deputy chairman Aleksandar Nikoloski, who will also be the minister of transport, the chairman of the Socialist Party in North Macedonia Lupcho Dimovski, who will also be the minister responsible for the political system, and Ivan Stoilkovic from the Democratic party of the Serbs, which takes over the department for relations between the communities in the country.
The other three vice-presidents of VMRO-DPMNE are also included in the new government of North Macedonia - Timcho Mutsunski takes over the functions of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Vlado Misailovski takes over the functions of Minister of Defense, and Gordana Dimitrieska-Kochoska is the new finance minister.
Vesna Janevska will be the Minister of Education and Science, Sanya Božinovska - of the newly formed Ministry of Energy, Mining and Mineral Resources. Panche Toshkovski remains in the position of Minister of Internal Affairs, Stefan Andonovski assumes the functions of Minister of Information Society and Digital Transformation, and Tsvetan Tripunovski - Minister of Agriculture. Actor Zoran Lyutkov is the new Minister of Culture and Tourism, and former handball player Borko Ristovski takes over the new Ministry of Sports. The former director of the municipal water supply company in Skopje and former chief of staff of Mickoski Zlatko Perinski will be the minister of local self-government.
From the VLEN coalition, in addition to Medjiti and Fetai, the government also includes Arben Taravari as Minister of Health, Orhan Murtezani - for European affairs, Fatmir Limani is the new minister in the transformed Ministry of Social Policy, Demography and Youth and Besar Durmishi is Minister for the Economy and Labour.
The ZNAM movement has its ministers in the Ministry of Justice (Igor Filkov) and the Ministry of State Administration (Goran Minchev).
Shaban Saliu of the Democratic Forces of the Roma, part of the "Your Macedonia" coalition, will be the minister without portfolio responsible for the implementation of the decade of Roma inclusion.