Skopje, 25 April 2025 (MIA) - I think that the Government coalition is rather unstable. We'll see how things develop, but I am ready for talks with all parties, said SDSM leader Venko Filipche on Friday.

On the coming local elections and the possible partner from the ethnic Albanian bloc, Filipche said he is closely following relations among coalition partners and "initiatives for talks" have already been launched.

"Regarding an Albanian coalition partner, we are gradually launching the initiatives for talks, looking at the circumstances and following developments within the ruling coalition. Latest events point to instability in the coalition. Within quite a short period, we have seen extremely different positions on whether early elections would take place or not, which shows that the coalition is not working, something that citizens are perceiving on a daily basis," Filipche told reporters.

Asked if SDSM would push for snap elections in parallel with the local polls, Filipche said the party is ready for any type of election in the coming period.

"SDSM is ready, be it only local elections or alongside early parliamentary elections," noted Filipche.

He said the SDSM-led coalition would stand united for the local elections, and talks have already started over the candidates for council members, but not in all municipalities, since some coalition partners would run solo in certain regions.

According to him, the investigation in the Kochani nightclub fire is selective, the government's economic strategy is poor, whereas many institutions are failing to give wages to the employees.

The SDSM leader said the country's Euro-integration path is stuck due to the lack of initiative by the governing coalition for implementation of the constitutional amendments.

"The country's future is under question. This is a critical period, with a lot of ongoing geopolitical shifts. It is important that the country continues to develop and truly reform itself, which is possible only by continuing the Euro-integration path. If this fails to materialize, security risks will emerge," underlined Filipche.

Photo: MIA