The Przino agreement or agreement from 2 June – 15 July 2015 was a political agreement between the main political parties in the

Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

with the mediation of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. The agreement ended the Macedonian political and institutional crisis in the first half of 2015. It foresaw: the participation of the opposition party

SDSM The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia ( mk, Социјалдемократски сојуз на Македонија – СДСМ, ''Socijaldemokratski Sojuz na Makedonija'' – SDSM, sq, Lidhja socialdemokrate e Maqedonisë – LSDM) is a ...

in the ministries; the early resignation of prime minister

Nikola Gruevski Nikola Gruevski ( mk, Никола Груевски, pronounced ; hu, Nikola Gruevszki; born 31 August 1970) is a Macedonian politician who served as Prime Minister of Macedonia from 2006 until his resignation, which was caused by the 2016 Mac ...

in January 2016 and a caretaker government to bring the country to

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

in June 2016, as well as a Special prosecutor to lead the investigations about the eventual crimes highlighted by the wiretapping scandal.

Background

In May 2015, protests occurred in

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

, against the incumbent Prime Minister

and his government. Protests began following charges being brought against

Zoran Zaev Zoran Zaev ( mk, Зоран Заев, ; born 8 October 1974) is a Macedonian economist and politician who served as prime minister of North Macedonia from May 2017 to January 2020, and again from August 2020 to January 2022. Prior to entering ...

, the opposition leader, who responded by alleging that Gruevski had 20,000 Macedonian officials and other figures wiretapped, and covered up the murder of a young man by a police officer in 2011. A major protest occurred on 5 May, seeing violent clashes between activists and police, with injuries on both sides. On 12 May, the Interior Minister

Gordana Jankuloska Gordana Jankuloska (, ; born 12 October 1975) is the former 10th Interior Minister of the Government of North Macedonia. She was a Minister in four cabinets of Nikola Gruevski. During the 2015 Macedonian protests, activists demanded that Gruevski ...

and Transportation Minister

Mile Janakieski Mile Janakieski is a Republic of Macedonia politician. He served as Minister of Transport and Communications in the cabinet of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski until 12 May 2015. Biography In fall 2009 Janakieski offered his resignation to Prime Mini ...

, along with the Director of the

Administration for Security and Counterintelligence The Administration for Security and Counterintelligence ( mk, Управа за безбедност и контраразузнавање), commonly referred to by the acronym UBK, was the domestic counterintelligence and security agency of Nort ...

(UBK)

Sašo Mijalkov Sašo Mijalkov (born 15 September 1965) was the ninth director of the Administration for Security and Counterintelligence (UBK) of the Republic of Macedonia. Family Sašo Mijalkov is the son of Jordan Mijalkov, the first Interior Minister of th ...

, resigned after it was revealed that they were the main interlocutors in many of the incriminating tapes.

Implementation

The implementation of the Przino Deal proved troublesome, with opposition SDSM party accusing the largest party,

VMRO-DPMNE Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity ( mk, Внатрешна македонска револуционерна организација – Демократска партија за ...

, of dragging their feet. The nomination of Katica Janeva as Special Prosecutor was hailed as a breakthrough, but the appointment of her team (considered too close to the VMRO) raised eyebrows. On 14 October 2015, the SDSM leader Zoran Zaev announced that the deal "is no longer active", after failure by the Council of Public Prosecutors to appoint half of the candidates proposed by Janeva. On 4 November the other candidates were elected and the team of Katica Janeva was completed. On 4 November a deal was reached concerning ministers and vice-ministers in transitional (technical) government. The agreement called for the resignation of prime-minister

in January 2016. On 14 January

officially resigned from position

Prime Minister of Macedonia } The prime minister of North Macedonia ( mk, Премиер на Северна Македонија, al, Kryeministri i Maqedonisë së Veriut), officially the President of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia ( mk, Претсед ...

and then the Assembly of Macedonia on 17 January elected Emil Dimitriev (interim PM) as president on a technical government which will lead the Republic into the early general elections in June 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Przino Agreement Politics of North Macedonia 2015 in the Republic of Macedonia

Background

Implementation

See also

References