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| The head of the Alliance for Albanians, Arben Taravari Photo: Arben Taravari’s Facebook page |
After meeting with Dimitar Kovacevski, the Social Democratic Prime Minister of North Macedonia, for two weeks, the Alliance for Albanians party announced on Thursday that it would be joining the government.
Arben Taravari, the party's leader, stated that they were in agreement with the PM regarding the ministerial and other managerial positions his party should take as well as a pro-European course.
It is anticipated that the eight members of the Alliance will provide the fragile majority in parliament with additional breathing room. The government currently has 64 members of parliament among its 120 members. That will now rise to 72, which is much more manageable, as is written in the official page.
The Alliance for Albanians' entry into the government comes at a critical time, as it struggles to pass a crucial constitutional amendment that would include Bulgarians among the state's founding peoples with a two-thirds majority of more than 80 MPs.
North Macedonia must make this constitutional change in order to resume accession talks, according to the so-called "French proposal" of last year, which was meant to settle a dispute with Bulgaria, which has been preventing Skopje from joining the EU for two years.
However, not everything is set in stone yet. The Alternativa [Alternative] party, which is a rival to the Alliance in the country's ethnic Albanian bloc, has been upset by talk of the Alliance joining the cabinet.
In the event that Alternativa leaves the government, which it has just a few days to do, it will bring its four lawmakers with it. The distribution of ministerial positions in the government would also be affected.
For the time being, it has been agreed that the Justice and Health ministries will go to the Alliance for Albanians. The Alliance should also appoint a new Vice PM in charge of the Economy and an Information Society Minister if Alternativa leaves the Health Ministry. Both of these positions are currently held by Alternativa.
Kovacevski stated to the media on Thursday that "the door for Alternativa remains open" and that he desired Alternativa to remain in the government.
The majority of the purpose of the move to increase the government's majority is to strengthen the government's position and increase its chances of passing the controversial constitutional change.
The main opposition party, the VMRO DPMNE, has vehemently opposed the change, calling it a betrayal of national interests. It could also theoretically increase pressure on them.
Additionally, a larger government majority would lessen the threat posed to the government by internal turmoil within the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), the party in charge of the minority.
A group of dissatisfied DUI officials, including several MPs, have been calling for changes and threatening to leave the party, which could mean losing the majority of seats in the legislature.