Skopje, 14 January 2026 (MIA) — At the country's political party leaders meeting held earlier Wednesday, attendees reached a compromise on the Law on Misdemeanors and largely agreed that the caretaker government should be scrapped, Prime Minister and VMRO-DPMNE president Hristijan Mickoski told the press after the meeting.

"All of us attending today agreed," Mickoski said, adding that one meeting participant had suggested they should also consult with the international community. 

"But, in general, we all agreed that the caretaker government should become a thing of the past," he said.

"We need to show the responsibility that we can make mature decisions ourselves. For me, this is a mature decision," he said.

Noting that SDSM leader Venko Filipche had not attended the meeting, Mickoski said that if the party did not agree to removing the caretaker government provision from the Law on the Government, the law could be amended by a simple majority vote in Parliament.

"However, my proposal was not to do it by force, without their consent, but to adopt amendments to the law such that there will be no caretaker government after the next elections," he said, stressing that the caretaker government provision would still be in effect ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election. 

"To break this stand-off, we will also accept that compromise. If SDSM thinks we need to have a caretaker government for the next election, fine. But regardless of who wins the next election, there should be no more caretaker governments going forward," the PM said.

The leaders' meeting also discussed the election of the ombudsman, amendments to the Electoral Code to form a single electoral unit and organize the diaspora vote as well as economic issues.

Mickoski said the topic of a snap election had not been raised. He described the meeting as constructive and showing "a different approach to resolving open issues, which has not happened in the past 35 years of our statehood." 

"On most of those open issues, we are of the same opinion and we found common ground," he said. "On some issues, our positions are naturally different."

But the most important point, according to the PM, was that the party leaders showed "mature, constructive behavior that leads to overcoming problems instead of creating problems."

He had told the leaders they should meet more often and they agreed, he said; after which they all agreed the topics they had raised should be further discussed at the level of parliamentary group whips. 

Mickoski also expressed his conviction that solutions would be found for all urgent issues.

At the leaders meeting, the VMRO-DPMNE leader was accompanied by VMRO-DPMNE parliamentary group whip Nikola Micevski. Other attendees included Secretary General of ZNAM and Minister of Public Administration Goran Minchev and Tetovo Mayor Bilall Kasami from the Worth It coalition. 

The opposition parties were represented by Levica leader Dimitar Apasiev and DUI leader Ali Ahmeti. SDSM's Filipche declined to accept the prime minister's invitation outright. mr/

Фото и видео: МИА