No agreement reached by Macedonian party leaders, says EU's Hahn

EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn on Tuesday said no agreement had been reached between Macedonian party leaders.

Hahn, who mediated the negotiations, said the working groups would continue their talks and agreed deadlines would be kept.

Leaders of the four largest Macedonian parties failed to reach a deal on the implementation of an agreement mediated by him in July 2015.

According to the agreement, the opposition party SDSM would nominate the new ministers for interior and labor, and deputy ministers in the department of finance, agriculture and public administration.

The ruling VMRO-DPMNE party would nominate a deputy minister of interior. The deputies in this broadened government, who remain in charge until early elections in April 2016, will have the right to veto actions by the ministers, but their exact mandate is still being discussed.

The agreement included the resignation of Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski by January 2016 and early elections in the country on April 24, 2016.

Under the agreement the opposition should return to Parliament, terminating the boycott of the institution that was imposed because the opposition party SDSM, who did not recognize the results of the last parliamentary elections.

"What is definitely needed is leadership, responsibility and taking care of the interests of the country. I hope there will be a resolution on these issues in order to continue what has been agreed and to have a positive final outcome of all our efforts leading to fair, transparent and very serious elections by the end of April to stabilize the situation of the country," Hahn said after the meeting. Endit