VMRO DPMNE and the Albanian opposition coalition, VLEN, said that they have reached an agreement on the “main pillars” during a meeting on Saturday for the formation of the new Government of North Macedonia.

In a press release after the meeting in Skopje, these two parties announced that the meeting between the party leaders lasted about three hours and that they agreed on the general principles of cooperation, writes Radio Free Europe.

“European integration, economic development, the rule of law and the fight against crime and corruption will be the main pillars of the work of the new government”, says the joint communiqué after the meeting held between the delegation of VMRO DPMNE, headed by Hristijan Mickoski, and the leaders of the VLEN coalition, Arben Taravari, Izet Mejhiti, Bilall Kasami and Afrim Gashi.

The leaders of the two political camps have announced that, starting next week, the talks will continue between the working groups “on all issues until the finalization of the talks on co-governance”.

VMRO DPMNE convincingly won the parliamentary elections on May 8 and in the new parliamentary composition there will be 58 deputies out of 120 in the Parliament of North Macedonia.

The Albanian opposition coalition VLEN managed to win 13 seats in the Parliament and its leaders have said that “they are the legitimate representatives of the Albanians in the next government”.

Mickoski is expected, after the inauguration of the new state president Gordana Silanovska Davkova, to take the mandate for the formation of the new government cabinet.

Meanwhile, the European Front, which is led by the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) until now in power, claims to be the legitimate representative of the Albanians, since it won 19 seats in the Parliament in the May 8 elections. Turkish, Roma and Bosnian parties were also part of this coalition.

The head of DUI, Ali Ahmeti, said on Saturday at a meeting of the European Front in Skopje that the Albanian parties must respect a document, which according to him, was signed by all the parties that “the condition for participation in the new government will be the approval of constitutional changes in order to continue the process of the country’s membership in the EU”.

“We, the political parties signed below, given the situation in which the country is, feel the obligation that we are determined now and in the future to cooperate and co-govern only with those political parties that agree to support constitutional changes for the integration of country in the EU”, said Ahmeti, presenting the document of the Albanian parties.