The chairman of the opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) in the Republic of North Macedonia, Venko Filipce, refused to participate in a leadership meeting with the country's Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski. According to him, “there will be no meeting with criminals”, and ”Mickoski is in trouble, in a hurry and looking for an alibi to call early elections”.
In an interview with TV “Alfa” yesterday, Mickoski announced that he would invite the leaders of the parliamentary parties and coalitions to a leadership meeting to discuss the removal of the caretaker government that is governing the country before elections, as well as the laws related to the reforms needed for North Macedonia's progress towards the European Union.
SDSM said that the ruling VMRO-DPMNE and its leader Mickoski were considering holding early elections in the spring of this year, even when the country was talking about a possible agreement with the British government to accept migrants who had been denied asylum by Britain.
At a press conference today, Filipche recalled these statements by the opposition party, saying that “what is happening is a scenario that was invented last year” and SDSM has been talking about it publicly for two months. The SDSM chairman also indicated that his party is against holding early elections.
"Early elections, then migrants for money. There is no money in the budget, and the government is in a hurry to accept migrants, to take out a loan of 6 billion euros, plus 20,000 pounds per migrant, as reported by the British media. Let Mickoski and the VMRO-ZNAM coalition call their own elections, since they have already planned it, but SDSM will not be a cover for this scenario," Filipche stated.
He added that "The technical government must remain, because the government (of VMRO-DPMNE) is usurping everything. It has dug its claws into the judicial system, taken full control of the prosecutor's office, and introduced changes to the Criminal Code that contradict the recommendations of the European Union.
Filipche informed that at a press conference tomorrow he will speak in detail about the problems in the judicial system and reform in the country.