There has been little speculation about who is the most serious candidate to replace Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski although deadlines for his replacement has already begun to flow. In the Przhino Agreement it states that the Prime Minister has to step down 100 days before the parliamentary elections which are to be held on April 24, 2016, and the new government should be inaugurated on January 15.
That most recent speculation has come from journalist Mirka Velinovska, she believes that the PM’s seat is being kept warm for the current Minister of Defence Zoran Jolevski.
“Do not think that people will be staring into space if they announce that the future technical Prime Minister will be Zoran Jolevski, who considers his own supreme commander like John McCain who tidied up Ukraine, encouraged ISIS and promoted Al Qaeda as American infantry.” wrote Mirka Velinovska, concluding that the there would be a reaction from the public if the Defence Minster is chosen to succeed Nikola Gruevski as Prime Minister.
If we put aside speculation of the type that the new prime minister will be someone close and trustworthy to Gruevski and their immediate circle, only a few names have turned up so far in political circles that, through social networks and in casual conversations, are worthy to replace a Prime Minister, who after 10 years has been forced to step down.
Names which have been mentioned frequently are Foreign Minister Nikola Popovski, who, on the other hand, is a member of the leadership of the VMRO-DPMNE and then there’s the Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Fatmir Besimi.
Also, among political circles names such as MP Antonio Milososki and the Ministers of Health and Finance, Nikola Todorov and Zoran Stavreski are being dismissed.
However, this is all political speculation and we should not exclude the possibility that all these speculations are there to draw the attention away from the right person.
Ivo Kotevski, Director of the Centre for VMRO-DPMNE, said the party would not deviate from the timetable provided by the political agreement.
“When the time comes, you will be informed”, was the short answer Koteski gave to the question of who will replace Nikola Gruevski.
Last week, however, at the promotion for “Buying a house for young people”, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said that the date of withdrawal from the post would be known when his time comes, according to the legal deadline. He avoided answering which of the party could be his successor.
Yesterday, however, the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn sent a letter to political leaders who have all signed the Przhino Agreement, where he expresses his concern about deadlines being missed and the implementation of the agreement, reported “TV Shenja.”
Former EU Ambassador to Macedonia Erwan Fouéré recently wrote that the only hope for Macedonia to get out of this crisis is for the early elections be postponed for at least three to six months. He then stated that the elections should not take place then, even at the cost of prolonging the mandate of the current government on January 15 as the deadline.
