Skopje, 9 January 2026 (MIA) - Venko Filipche isn’t only refusing a leaders’ meeting, Filipche is refusing dialogue and an extended hand to build political consensus on the national interests, ruling party VMRO-DPMNE said in a press release Friday, after the leader of SDSM, Venko Filipche, refused Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski’s invitation to a leaders’ meeting.

The ruling party said the refusal shows SDSM is using the issue of the country’s European integration only as propaganda for pure political purposes and is not really interested in it, since the reforms that are a part of the EU Reform Agenda will be discussed at the meeting that Filipche refused to attend.

“Venko Filipche demonstrated that he takes issue with everything good in the country and for the country. He takes issue with the reforms in the judiciary, security, freedom of expression, as well as the country’s progress,” the ruling party said in a press release.

VMRO-DPMNE said the country does not need an opposition party that opposes everything just for the sake of opposing.

“It is time for Filipche to surpass himself because the country needs responsible and serious politicians,” the party stressed.

In a TV interview on Wednesday, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said he will send invitations to all party leaders to a meeting in which reform laws and the scrapping of the caretaker government will be discussed.  

“I plan on handing out invitations to all parliamentary party leaders to a leaders’ meeting. I think there is enough time in the next ten days, before I depart for Davos, to meet and discuss the reform laws, reform of the political system and also the law on government in order to talk about the caretaker government,” Mickoski told Alfa TV in an interview. He said he expects all parliamentary party leaders to accept the invitation.

On Friday, SDSM leader Venko Filipche reiterated that his party won’t participate in a meeting of the parliamentary party leaders, in which participants should discuss the abolishment of the caretaker government, noting that it must remain “as the final line of defense against complete capture and misuse of the free will of the citizens during the election process.”

“The caretaker government could be abolished only if we were a mature society, which we are not at this point,” Filipche told a press briefing adding: “Only a caretaker government featuring members of the opposition can guarantee a fair and democratic election cycle.”