The Ambassadors of the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union stood before the Government today and read a joint statement on the political crisis in the country and the Przhno Agreement, which urged VMRO-DPMNE to honour its obligations which they accepted in Przhino and as for SDSM to continue to fulfil their obligations under the contract, including not publishing anymore intercepted conversations.
The statement reads:
“Late Friday night, we met with Prime Minister Gruevski and expressed our disappointment at the failure to meet the October 20th deadline agreed to in July 15th Przhino Agreement for the exchange of ministers. We urge VMRO-DPMNE to demonstrate the required commitment and to implement the agreement in a constructive and urgent manner and with good faith. We believe implementing the Przhino Agreement is the best path out of this political crisis.
We called on Prime Minister Gruevski to empower his team to finalize agreement on the unresolved issues in the Przhino Agreement and to implement the necessary reforms quickly to ensure a level playing field for elections and their national and international recognition as credible, as well as accountability for possible wrongdoing. Regarding the latter, we expect the Special Prosecutor, appointed by a unanimous vote in Parliament, to be given the resources requested to allow her to take on the important work ahead.
We have urged SDSM, for their part, to continue to fulfil their obligations arising from the political agreement, including the commitment not to publish any further wire tap material.
The Prhzino Agreement calls for the parties to put the interest of the country first and confirm their commitment to the Euro-Atlantic integration process and democratic principles. All parties should act in good faith, to renew their commitment to that Agreement, to act upon measures agreed to with the absolute urgency that the situation demands. Failure to do so will impact the assessment by the European Commission. Governments, and especially their heads, have a special responsibility in times of political crisis. Should they act immediately and clearly indicate through actions that they are taking this path, the international community stands ready to support that effort.”
