Skopje, 5 June 2024 (MIA) - VMRO-DPMNE submitted fast-tracked amendments of the Law on the Organization and Operation of the State Administration Bodies to Parliament on Wednesday, with the goal of reorganizing the government's ministries. At a press conference, VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski urged all MPs to support the amendments.

Mickoski said the session is expected to be held on Friday, and the amendments adopted on Monday.

“We promised functional rule of law, an efficient government that will implement reforms. The essence of the enormous support from the citizens are the policies that the future government will have to implement in order to have rule of law, to ensure that there aren’t any second-class citizens, to strengthen the economy, to ensure that students have textbooks at the beginning of the school year, decent conditions in healthcare, subsidies for farmers and everything else we promised in our election program. For all of this to be implemented, it is essential that the amendments and reorganization of the government’s ministries are adopted,” Mickoski said.

Mickoski requested the support of all MPs in the Parliament regardless of their political affiliation. The legitimacy and legality of the request, he said, is founded on the election result of VMRO-DPMNE's coalition and President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova.

“The legitimacy of the citizens is clear, the credibility and legality are also clear,” Mickoski said.

The amendments, according to Mickoski, will ensure efficiency, a modern government and improved life for the citizens.

Asked if they held discussions to ensure support from 80 MPs, since the adoption of the amendments requires a two-third majority, Mickoski said he wouldn’t want to get into “daily politics”.

“I expect support from all parliamentary groups that are a part of this composition of Parliament. Let’s leave assumptions aside. We aren’t naive politicians to believe in coincidences, there are rarely coincidences in politics,” Mickoski said.

The new amendments will 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 Digitization.

“We will have a new ministry tasked with implementing a very important project boosting transparency, rule of law, and reducing founded suspicions of corruption within the administration – this will be the new Ministry of Digitization which in essence will inherit the responsibilities of the Ministry of Information Society and Administration,” Mickoski said, adding that a separate Ministry of Administration will also be established.

The amendments necessary for the reorganization of ministries require a two-third majority in Parliament, i.e., the support of 80 MPs. The parties currently engaged in government coalition talks – VMRO-DPMNE (58 MPs), Worth It (14) and ZNAM (6) together have 78 MPs in Parliament.