Skopje, 10 June 2024 (MIA) - After PM-designate Hristijan Mickoski was presented with the government formation mandate last Thursday, and Parliament passed late Friday the draft amendments to the Law on the Organization and Operations of State Administration Bodies, the deadlines are approaching for the formation of the new government.  

At the mandate handover ceremony, Mickoski said the new government will be formed soon, voicing expectation that it will happen before the final deadline defined by the legislation and Constitution. He pointed out that the main goal of the government will be to deal with reforms, announcing progress in economy, a strong investment cycle, improving the conditions in health, education, agriculture...

"I am convinced that we will change reality in the future, we will transform Macedonia into a successful European story, a country that will be the homeland of all citizens regardless of their ethnicity, political affiliation or non-affiliation, a place that will be a motive and inspiration for those who have left to come back home," Mickoski said on Thursday. 

VMRO-DPMNE has been in negotiations over the formation of a new government with the Worth It coalition and ZNAM. The distribution of ministries has been already known, but no names have been revealed yet officially. 

The new government will have 20 ministries, four more than before. As Parliament passed late Friday the draft amendments to the Law on the Organization and Operations of State Administration Bodies, there will be reorganization of the government ministries.   

The new amendments introduce several novelties such as the establishment of a Ministry of Energy, Mining and Mineral Resources, which was previously a sector at the Ministry of Economy. They also foresee the transformation of the Youth and Sport Agency into a Ministry of Sport, with the sector focused on youth becoming a part of the Ministry of Social Policy, Demographics and Youth. The sector on labor will become a part of the Ministry of Economy and Labor, while the sector on tourism will be transferred to the Ministry of Culture. The Ministry of Information Society and Administration will be reorganized into a Ministry of Digital Transformation. 

In addition to VMRO-DPMNE, Worth It and ZNAM MPs voting for the bill, it received the votes of the DUI-led European Front lawmakers as well. Earlier on Friday night, VMRO-DPMNE and the European Front announced in a press release they had reached an agreement on supporting the amendments as well as on the establishment of an ad hoc parliamentary committee on fair representation of all ethnic communities in state administration bodies. The chair of the committee will be proposed by the opposition, read the press release. 

President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova signed the decree on the Law on Sunday. 

In a Facebook post, Siljanovska Davkova said it was a law passed by a two-thirds majority, which the President, according to Article 75, paragraph (4), is obliged to sign, i.e. has no right to veto.

"The law supports reform, and it will first cancel the parallelism of the competences of many ministries, thus ensuring functionality and responsibility. Second, the competences in respective ministries will be (dis)located, which will rationalize and make their work more effective (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economy and Labour, Ministry of Energy, Mining and Mineral Resources, Ministry of Social Policy, Demography and Youth, Ministry of Culture and Tourism). Third, our strategic priorities will be institutionalized through the establishment of appropriate ministries (Ministry of European Affairs, Ministry of Digital Transformation). And fourth, the level of social care for the physical and mental health of the nation will be raised (Ministry of Sports)," the post reads.  

The deadline to form the new government is 20 days after the handover of the government formation mandate. 

Photo: MIA archive