The Pržino 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, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

with the mediation of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. The agreement ended the Macedonian political and institutional crisis in the first half of 2015. It foresaw: the participation of the opposition party SDSM in the ministries; the early resignation of prime minister

Nikola Gruevski Nikola Gruevski (, pronounced ; born 31 August 1970) is a former Macedonian politician who served as Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Prime Minister of Macedonia from 2006 until his resignation, which was caused by the 2016 Macedonian protests, ...

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

general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General 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 ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

, against the incumbent Prime Minister

and his government. Protests began following charges brought against

Zoran Zaev Zoran Zaev (, ; 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 politics, he ran a privat ...

, 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, Transportation Minister Mile Janakieski, and Director of the

Administration for Security and Counterintelligence The Administration for Security and Counterintelligence (, Albanian language, Albanian: ''Administrata për siguri dhe kundërzbulim''), commonly referred to by the acronym UBK, was the domestic counterintelligence and security agency of North M ...

(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 because 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 The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (), abbreviated as VMRO-DPMNE (), is a conservative and the main centre-right to right-wing political party in North Macedonia. It was establ ...

, 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 and then, the Assembly of

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

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