Macedonian Prime Minister Kostov Resigns

16/11/2004

Parliament will officially announce Prime Minister Hari Kostov's resignation during a meeting scheduled for Thursday, launching a ten-day period during which President Branko Crvenkovski should give the mandate for forming a new government.

By Marija Lazarova for Southeast European Times in Skopje - 16/11/04

Macedonian Prime Minister Hari Kostov announced his resignation Monday (15 November). [Tomislav Georgiev]

Macedonian Prime Minister Hari Kostov resigned after five months in the post on Monday (15 November). The move also entails the resignation of the entire cabinet, though it will remain in office until a new government is chosen, to prevent a power vacuum.

Parliament will announce the prime minister's resignation in a meeting scheduled for Thursday, launching a ten-day period during which President Branko Crvenkovski should give the mandate for forming the new government. Whoever receives the mandate will have 20 days in which to assemble his or her team and come up with a working programme.

"Despite its declaratory commitment, one coalition partner in the government understands its role and place in the government only as an instrument for partial implementation of the political processes of the Ohrid Framework Agreement by advocating urgent implementation of the principle of adequate and just representation, which is a long-term process apart from the significant results in this area in the past two years," Kostov said.

According to the prime minister, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) blocked laws that did not influence interethnic relations but were important for attracting foreign investments.

"The government has been blocked in the past period, even in issues concerning some economic reforms that underwent a few phases of the parliamentary procedure and are a part of arrangements with international financial institutions," Kostov said. "The principle of setting conditions and replacing expert and professional knowledge with political bargains is becoming practice. This has narrowed the possibilities for efficient operating."

DUI expressed surprise at Kostov's decision. "As the coalition partner, we were neither informed nor had we any announcements of his resignation. [His] accusations against DUI are very serious. We have always thought our co-operation with the prime minister was successful and productive. So far, we jointly surmounted some serious challenges, such as the last one with the referendum," said party spokeswoman Ermira Mehmeti.

The largest party in the ruling coalition, the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), has been without a leader since Crvenkovski's election as president. The party conference, originally scheduled for the second half of next month, has been moved up to 25 November. In the next few days, SDSM will have to decide whether its new party leader will also be the new prime minister or whether the two positions will be separated.