North Macedonia Political Briefing: New Coalition Government Formed Between the SDSM and DUI Gjorgjioska M

Home , Bujar Osmani, Nikola Dimitrov

ISSN: 2560-1601

Vol. 32, No. 1 (MK)

September 2020

North Macedonia political briefing: New Coalition Government formed between the SDSM and DUI Gjorgjioska M. Adela

1052 Budapest Petőfi Sándor utca 11.

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New Coalition Government formed between the SDSM and DUI

Following the Parliamentary elections in mid-July, on August 18th the leaders of the SDSM (Social Democratic Union of Macedonia) and DUI (Democratic Union for Integration) announced a coalition deal on forming the country’s new cabinet. SDSM’s Zoran Zaev, who led the country’s previous government from June 2017 until January 2020, was also announced to return to the position as Prime Minister for an additional 4 years. Under the deal, Zaev will serve in that position until no later than 100 days from the next parliamentary elections, when DUI will propose an ethnic Albanian candidate for Prime Minister, to serve out the remaining term until the elections; and DUI’s Talat Xhaferi will keep the post of parliament speaker.

The mandate of the new coalition government was officially confirmed by the Parliamentary Assembly on August 30st in a 62-51 vote. It will have a two-seat majority of 61 MPs consisting of SDSM’s 46 MP seats, DUI's 15 parliament members, and one MP seat from the Democratic Party of Albanians. On the occasion, Zaev declared that “the new Government’s first priority will be to extend the anti-crisis measures aimed at assisting the citizens and the economy.” He added that the focus of the Government’s work will be on “overcoming the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and on restoring the previous rates of economic growth”. Moreover, Zaev announced that “within the first months in office, the Government will secure mechanisms for structural reforms in the the public administration, as well as reforms in the rule of law, by purifying the judiciary and building a strong, independent judiciary“1 Finally, he added that a period of transformation and europeanisation of the country will follow, whereby the process of EU integration will intensify.

The Government Cabinet will consist of 19 ministers, which is a reduction of 7 Ministerial positions compared to the period 2017-2020, when it numbered a total of 26 Ministers. The SDSM will hold 11 Ministries, including 8 with a concrete portfolio, and additional 3 Deputy Prime Ministers without portfolio and with certain specific competencies. Ljupco Nikolovski (who acted as Minister of Agriculture in the 2017-2020 Government) has been appointed as Deputy Prime Minister for Fighting Corruption. Fatmir Bitikji has been appointed as Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Issues. Nikola Dimitrov (previously Minister of Foreign Affairs) has been appointed as Deputy Prime Minister for European Issues. The 8 Ministerial positions

1 https://vlada.mk/node/22321

1 have been distributed as follows: Oliver Spasovski who held the position of Technical Prime Minister between February-May 2020, will continue his former role as Minister of Interior; Radmila Shekerinska will also remain in her previous post as Minister of Defence. Similarly the Ministry of Health will remain in the hands of Venko Filipche. Mila Carovska, who acted as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs between 2017-2020, will now take on the role of Minister of Education. New appointments have been made in the Ministry of Justice (Bojan Maricikj, who previously acted as Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister on European Issues, is the new Minister of Justice); the Ministry of Transport and Connectivity (Blagoj Bocvarski); Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Jagoda Shahpaska) and Ministry of Culture (Irena Stefoska).

In comparison to the Coalition Government from 2017-2020 when DUI had 6 Ministerial offices (10 MP seats), in the 2020-2024 Government DUI leveraged its 15 MP Seats in securing a greater share of top ministerial positions including the Ministries of Finance, Economy and Foreign Affairs. Bujar Osmani (Deputy Prime Minister on European Issues in the previous Cabinet) has been appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Fatmir Besimi has been appointed as Minister of Finance, whilst Kreshnik Bekteshi and Naser Nuredini have remained in their roles as Minister of Economy and Minister of Environmental and Physical Planning respectively. Jeton Shekiri has been appointed as Minister for Information Society and Administration. Most significantly, a powerful new position has been established for the first time under the title “First Deputy Prime Minister in Charge of Coordination of Political Issues Between Departments”, a position that has been taken up by DUI’s Artan Grubi. This position however is not stipulated in the Macedonian Constitution, which has warranted ample criticism by legal experts and opposition figures. Under the new protocol, introduced specifically for this new position, the First Deputy Prime Minister will replace the Prime Minister when he is away and will hold executive power on issues specified by the Prime Minister. Those critical of the new role have described it as practically a co-Prime Minister’s role, which will give DUI a veto power on major executive decisions and the implementation of the Government program. Finally, DUI and SDSM have agreed that the DUI will appoint an Albanian prime minister 100 days before the next general elections, in what has been a concession to DUI’s pre-election demand for an ethnic Albanian premier.

As part of his first Press Conference as First Deputy Prime Minister, Artan Grubi declared: “I am honored to serve as the first Deputy Prime Minister in the history of our country, a position agreed upon to guarantee cohesion and coordination in the governing coalition and

2 to implement the policies of departments and staff, but also to replace the Prime Minister in his absence.” He also announced some of his key priorities in office. For instance he stated that “alongside with the Minister for Information Society and Administration, as soon as possible, we will ensure the deployment and distribution of public administration employees in accordance with the Ohrid Framework Agreement”. (It remains to be seen how this proposal will coexist with Zaev’s announcement for urgent structural reforms in the public administration). Moreover, he added that he will focus on “intensifying the dynamics towards the implementation of the Law for the Use of Languages, as well as the setting up of the corresponding institutions”.23 One of the first policies announced by the First Deputy Prime Minister in September was the “state subsidies for private firms which employ ethnic Albanians”. Such steps are indicative of the focus that Grubi is likely to place on driving forward ethno-nationalist identity politics, which have served two functions for DUI in the past: firstly they have acted as their shield of impunity for abuse of office and corruption; secondly they have served as a platform for advancing clientelistic practices whereby jobs in public administration are exchanged for support from the ethnic-Albanian voter base. Grubi’s appointment and his policies are thus likely to feed into the low levels of professionalisation and overstaffing of the public administration. At the same time however his office is likely to be guided by the instrumentalisation of ethno-nationalism for party political purposes, which can only serve to further deteriorate the inter-ethnic relations on a societal levels, whilst serving as a distraction from overarching, cross-ethnic societal and economic issues.

According to the leaders of the two parties, Zoran Zaev and Ali Ahmeti, their partnership rests on resuming the country’s Euro-Atlantic path, and on continuing internal reforms. However, before the elections Zoran Zaev declared that “it is time for DUI to go into opposition following 17 years in Government”. The contrasting message before and after the elections suggests that what bonds DUI and SDSM is only the shared desire for political power. The (in)stability of the new Government is thus likely to affect the relationship between the

2 https://vlada.mk/node/22467 3 Criticised as unconstitutional and unnecessary the Law on the Use of Languages was forced through Parliament in january 2019 in spite of severe criticism from legal experts across the country and the Venice Commission. It extends the use of the Albanian language, (which was already an official language in areas where the minority makes up at least 20 percent of the population) to wider use on the national level, including in administrative, health, judicial, police, and other official matters. Under the new law the Parliament’s speaker is allowed to speak and lead sessions in Albanian. The law has been criticised as detrimental for the inter-ethnic relations in the country; since it entrenches the existence of parallel ethnic societies, and removes language as a crucial binding and overarching mechanism between the country’s different ethnic groups.

Coalition Partners, which in turn will affect the state’s broader capacity to act as a united front when responding to concrete societal, economic and international challenges.