LOCAL PRESS

 

"Important that Serbs take part in government" (Tanjug)

An agreement has been reached in a meeting with PM Aleksandar Vucic that all those elected on the Serb list in Kosovo "take a united political front."

This was announced by Office for Kosovo Director Marko Djuric, who "underlined that it is important that the Serbs take on a part of the responsibility for running the institutions and take part in the government," Tanjug said.

At a news conference held after the meeting, Djuric said that "it is in the Serbs' interest to take a united front and participate in the political process in the province so as to further their interests within institutional frameworks."

He noted that, in the next several months, the objective is to work together on creating and building a community of Serb municipalities.

Asked whether that means that the Serbs would enter the Kosovo government and that they would be able to cooperate with Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinaj, Djuric said that it was "very important for the Serbs to assume a part of the responsibility for administering the institutions in Kosovo and engage in the government."

“We do not prejudge what would be a future structure of the provincial government, but we know that it is of immense importance for our community in Kosovo to have an impact on the developments,” Djuric told reporters.

Djuric noted that the meeting marked "a turnabout" in the Serbs' political activities, Tanjug reported.

Representatives of the Serbs "voiced the satisfaction about the agreement, and underscored that they had so far paid a huge price for the lack of unity."

Djuric also expressed the expectation that Serb politician in Kosovo Oliver Ivanovic would be released from prison "in the next few days."

”We expect and hope that we will have a chance in the next few days to confer with Oliver Ivanovic but that he will this time be free,” Djuric told the news conference.

He underscored that the Serbian government is giving moral support to all defendants in this case and similar proceedings.

”We want the province to be a place marked by rule of law and justice instead of rule of force and injustice,” Djuric said.

Ivanovic was detained on January 27 on suspicion that he participated in the war crimes against ethnic Albanians in 1999 and 2000 but an indictment against him has not been raised.

 

Urosevac: Organizers of prostitution network accused (Tanjug)

The international prosecutor and the local Prosecutor of the Basic Prosecution Office in Urosevac have charged three people for criminal offenses involving organized crime, assisting prostitution and other related criminal offenses EULEX announced.

The three suspects, according to the prosecution, established an organized crime group in collaboration with others in order to enable prostitution by recruiting foreign nationals, mostly Ukrainian, to provide sexual services at a motel "NATA", which is a place known for prostitution in the region of Urosevac.

According to the prosecution, these criminal offenses were committed in the period between the 2005 and 2013.

The Prosecution estimates that the defendants managed to obtain the benefit of at least 1.5 million Euros in profits gained by criminal activity, and in the course of the investigation the property (house, apartments, cars and money)of  accused was seized.

 

 

Mihajlovic: Serbs could "tip the scales" in the Kosovo government (Tanjug)

The Director of the Government Office for Media Relations Milivoje Mihajlovic is confident that the new Kosovo provincial government will be formed on the platform of the Brussels agreement, stressing that "the tipping of the scales" could be undertaken by Serbs.

It is possible that the Serbs will decide who will form the next government in Prišitna and in that case they will have stronger political power and a more serious impact. Now the story is that the Self-Determination party is the one that will tip the scale, but I think that role will be overtaken by the Kosovo Serbs, said Mihajlovic. He stressed that at this point it is difficult to create a government with the support of the Self-Determination party, as it would be a government that will say no more for the dialogue.

Mihajlovic believes that yesterday's meeting of the Serbs from Kosovo and the state authorities in Belgrade represents a turnover because a higher degree of unity among them and with Belgrade was achieved.

This turnover would not have happened if Belgrade did not begin to look at the involvement of the Serbs in Kosovo differently, Mihajlovic said.

- The proof of this is the creation of a joint list of Serbs who participated in the elections and that way achieved supremacy in the political representation of the Serbs. This list was given nine seats, with a possibility to negotiate for some additional seats - he said believing that unity is important for the Serbs to have an influence on developments in Kosovo and so that Belgrade could have influence on events in Kosovo.

Therefore, as he says, it is important that the Serbs who were elected deputies have sent a message from the Government of Serbia, because it is a two-way message. It is a message that they are together with Belgrade, in political sense, but also it is a message to Brussels.

He does not believe that the international community will allow a new armed conflict in Kosovo that would arise if the government would say no to a Brussels Treaty.

Mihajlovic said that the Serbs in Kosovo will, apart from political powers, have undiminished economic support from Belgrade.

This economic assistance should arrive more transparently, but should be developmental, rather than social, to create new jobs, to hire people who would than make a living from their work rather than that the state pays them to remain in Kosovo. That it is a way for working on staying on a certain territory - the Director of the Government Office for Cooperation with the media said.

Speaking about the protests and incidents in Kosovska Mitrovica on the initiation of the "Peace Park" Mihajlovic said that those are demonstrations whish don’t want peace, don’t want Serbs in Kosovo institutions, nor any kind of cooperation, but pure Albanian domination.

A normal communication needs to be established, life should be returned to normal, and a guarantee for that should be Brussels, Belgrade and Pristina, he said and pointed out that Brussels should warn the Pristina authorities to stop with the constant obstacles pointed toward the Serbs.

Speaking about the case of the pro-longed detention of Oliver Ivanovic, he reiterated that on Friday, the judge should decide whether Ivanovic will defend himself from freedom.

- It is a political process so that Ivanovic would be eliminated from political life, but it is unclear why are the EULEX and the EU taking part in it - Mihajlovic said, hoping that government guarantees for Ivanovic to defend himself from freedom will now be accepted.

 

DSS: The government is concealing the responsibility for handing over Kosovo (FoNet)

Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) said today that the request of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic that the Serbs join the Kosovo government, is the latest act of concealing the responsibility of the Government of Serbia for forcing the Kosovo Serbs to hand over the southern Serbian province to the Albanians.

DSS believes that by joining a coalition government in Pristina, the Kosovo Serb representatives elected to the Assembly, which after participation in Albanian elections, represent only a tiny minority of the Kosovo Serb electorate, will in that way dig a grave for Serbian statehood in the province of Kosovo and Metohija.

Although people who are working diligently to recognize the secession of Kosovo could be found in Serbia, there are now also Kosovo Serbs in the province who will do this dirty work from inside the Albanian-run parliament and government, DSS noted and concluded that Serbian people will never forgive them.

 

Opposite stances of President and Prime Minister increasingly often (Blic, by Tamara Spaic, 25 June 2014)

Nothing but war between Vucic and Nikolic - Firm hugs with Belarusian President and advocating interruption of the dialog with Pristina are just two examples in a series of opposite policies being led by Tomislav Nikolic and Aleksandar Vucic

Analysts close to the SNS say that permanent competing between the two centers of power is obvious in home policy, however it is not realistic to expect that the former SNS leader Tomislav Nikolic is now considering making a political party of his own. There is no doubt that their discord and conflicting in foreign policy are more dangerous for Serbia.

- There are no two foreign policies because the only body leading our foreign policy is the Government. So Brussels is evaluating only moves made by our Government. For the time being I do not see any significant damage caused by the President’s acting, otherwise we would have already got adequate signals from the EU. The damage is perhaps more symbolic than crucial – Laslo Varga.

Deputy President of the parliamentary Board for European Integration says.

It is interesting that the SNS high officials are refusing to comment on Serbia President’s moves. Journalists asked Vucic if the German Chancellor Merkel had asked him about Lukashenko’s visit. Vucic replied that he ‘would have kept silent had she asked’.

Jadranka Joksimovic, the Minister for European Integration gave the following reply to the question over two policies not in harmony:

- The Serbian Government creates the country’s foreign policy and this Government is leading consistent and clear policy of European integration.

Dragomir Andjelkovic, an analyst close to the SNS explains for the Blic that the opposed messages do not reflect different policies, but a need for balancing.

- I do not believe that there is any serious discord since neither Nikolic is pushing us towards Euro-Asia nor Vucic is against Russia. This is simply balancing that Serbia is forced to do since it is surrounded with the NATO countries and is under post-modern occupation, so it must have room for retreat – Andjelkovic says.

Disputes between country’s leadership

-Foreign policy

Nikolic invites representatives of Russia and Belarus to visit Belgrade, although they are under the EU sanctions.

Vucic avoids meeting with them.

-Bosnia/Herzegovina

Nikolic for divorce, Vucic for marriage.

-Kosovo and EU

Nikolic requests that a sentence stipulating interruption of negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina is included in the Resolution on Kosovo/Metohija. The Government has deleted that sentence.

Ahead of founding of the new Government Nikolic announced new resolution on Kosovo/Metohija and brought in question the so far negotiations over judicial system.

-Energy

In the presence of Putin, Nikolic defended interests of Russian mediators in sale of gas to Serbia and apologized because Minister Zorana Mihajlovic had attempted to change that agreement in order to get cheaper price of the gas for the consumers in Serbia.

In November last year the Presidency’s protocol omitted Mihajlovic at the ceremony of opening of works on the Southern Stream gas pipeline. Vucic intervened to secure her presence.

Staff appointments Former minister of mining Milan Bacevic (father of Nikolic’s daughter-in-law) was in permanent conflict with Zorana Mihajlovic, one of Vucic’s closest associates. He is not in the new Government.

Disputable advisors Oliver Antic, probably one of the most important Nikolic’s advisors left the SNS due to severe criticism after his visit to Rade Markovic, former State Security chief-of-staff in prison.

 

Serbia "supports OSCE" over Ukraine crisis (Tanjug)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic say "only through constructive political action and a dialogue can concrete and sustainable solutions be reached."

Dacic also "underlined that the priority importance remains attached to strengthening the OSCE capacities to actively assist all phases of the conflict cycle, from early warning to post-conflict rehabilitation and reconciliation, and reaching concrete results in terms of stabilization of situation in the field."

He spoke at the opening of the OSCE Annual Security Review Conference in Vienna on Tuesday.

"As much a dialogue is essential, it is only a necessary condition for reaching and implementing proper solutions based on a consensus. I believe that our experience in the dialogue with Pristina, and particularly the efforts to facilitate everyday life of citizens and secure their basic human rights, could be of use for the future efforts in addressing numerous issues," Dacic said.

The OSCE Annual Security Review Conference is being held in the face of one of the greatest challenges in the OSCE region since its establishment, he said.

As regards solving the current crisis in Ukraine, Dacic underlined that Serbia supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all UN member states.

Serbia strongly supports the OSCE coordinated activities that are aimed at appeasing the crisis, establishing an inclusive dialogue and supporting internal processes with a view to stabilization of the situation in Ukraine, he said.

"In this respect, we believe that it is of the utmost importance to stop enmity and we welcome the plan of President Poroshenko which is based on a peaceful solution of crisis. We believe that the plan is offering an opportunity for promotion of an internal dialogue and strengthening of institutions looking after interests of all citizens," Dacic said.

During its chairmanship next year, Serbia is ready to work toward full stabilization of circumstances in Ukraine, he said.

"While chairing the organization, Serbia will act in coordination with Mongolia, Montenegro and Norway that will preside over the Forum for Security Cooperation in 2015, with conviction that the fact that the chairs belong to different regions will be an added quality and contribute to grasping the issues in a more varied way," he noted.

"Serbia will continue to advocate for further comprehensive dialogue with the OSCE together with Switzerland, with which it holds the consecutive chairmanship, in an effort to maintain military stability, predictability and transparency, though a review and update of the Vienna Document, improvement and implementation of other important documents that represent a basis for building trust and security in the OSCE region," the minister said.

Dacic also pointed to the coordinated cooperation of member states in the fight against transnational threats such as human trafficking, organized crime, drug trafficking.

"Corruption and illegal migrations are impossible to tackle individually, so it is only feasible to counter these challenges by strengthening democratic institutions, and raising awareness of the role of the organized crime in spreading the above-mentioned negative phenomena," Dacic said.

Complex challenges require joint responses, Dacic underlined, noting that the OSCE with its flexibility and mechanisms provides a possibility for finding adequate solutions.

"Serbia is ready to work hard together with others to improve the OSCE's capacities, and offer relevant answers to the question of collective security in 21st century," Dacic said, adding that the Helsinki +40 Process constitutes the framework for strengthening the organization even further.

 

Defense minister: Serbia to be unbiased OSCE chair  (Tanjug/B92) 

Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic on Tuesday met with head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Serbia Peter Burkhard.

They discussed "current cooperation and Serbia's upcoming OSCE chairmanship in 2015."

Gasic said that Serbia - which last January joined the OSCE coordination body, the so-called troika, comprised of Ukraine (chaired the OSCE in 2013), Switzerland (the current chair) and Serbia - "will do everything to be an unbiased OSCE chair."

He noted that all processes started this year will be implemented and that "a joint plan has been worked out that includes the military and political dimension of security."

Gasic also spoke about the recent floods in Serbia and the significant role of the Serbian Armed Forces in remedying their consequences, the Serbian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Gasic and Burkhard noted the importance of cooperation in sub-regional and regional initiatives in processes, the Serbian ministry said on its website.

Particularly discussed was the practical assistance provided by the OSCE in the Capacity Development Program for Conventional Ammunition Stockpile Management (CASM) for the Republic of Serbia.

Also discussed was the implementation of the OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security in the reform of the military system.

 

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

A citizen of Serbia charged with war crimes in Karlovac (Beta, 24 June 2014)

Prosecution of Rijeka in Croatia has filed charges against two persons today, one of which is a 59-year-old citizen of Serbia, for war crimes against civilians in Kablar near Karlovac in October in 1991.

A statement published on the website of the Croatian State Prosecutor alleges that the accused are a 59-year-old, who has dual citizenship of Serbia and Croatia, and a 57-year-old Croatian citizen.

The indictment charges a 57-year-old,  for ordering a civilian I.G., murdered, as a former troop leader of the  Territorial Defence of Gornji Sjeničak of the self-proclaimed SAO Krajina, and a 59-year-old is charged for shooting dead a civilian together  with two other soldiers.

Serbian national is unavailable to the Croatian judiciary. The indictment was filed in the District Court in Rijeka.

 

NATO won't offer Montenegro membership this year  (Tanjug/B92) 

BRUSSELS -- Montenegro and Georgia will not be invited to join NATO this year, Secretary General of Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday.

"We will start intensive and focused talks with Montenegro, and will by the end of 2015 at the latest decide whether to invite it to join the alliance," Rasmussen told reporters at the start of the second day of a session of the Ministerial Council of NATO in Brussels.

Montenegro had hoped to be invited to join in September this year, during a NATO summit.

Speaking about Georgia, Rasmussen announced that instead of membership the country will be offered "a substantial package" that will help it get closer to NATO.

Diplomatic sources at NATO headquarters said that member-states failed to agree yesterday on allowing the two countries to join.

The main opponent to Georgia's membership was France, which took the view that the move would unnecessarily irritate Russia.

When it comes to Montenegro, the opinion is that further reforms, especially in the political arena and in the rule of law, are necessary.

 

Albania to become candidate for EU membership (Beta) 

BRUSSELS -- EU foreign ministers have decided to propose that Albania be given candidate status for membership, according to EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule.

Fule posted on his Twitter account to congratulate Albania before the decision was officially announced.

Albania's path towards the EU was blocked for several years due to internal political deadlock and the slow pace of implementation of reforms.

According to a Beta news agency report, the EU believes that many of the problems have been remedied after Edi Rama was elected as prime minister.

"Albania congratulations on candidate status just agreed by Ministers: acknowledgement of reform efforts, encouragement for more," Fule posted on Twitter.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Serbia Delays IMF Talks, Supplementary Budget as GDP May Shrink (Bloomberg, By Gordana Filipovic, 24 June 2014)

Serbia may postpone holding loan talks with the International Monetary Fund along with a budget revision as it tries to assess if the economy contracts or stagnates after recent floods.

Talks with the IMF may be held after the lender’s mission completes Article IV consultations with authorities “sometime in the fall,” Finance Minister Lazar Krstic told an economic conference in Belgrade today. The economy, he said, will either stagnate or shrink 0.5 percent this year. An annual contraction would make it the third since 2009. He didn’t give more precise timing on when a potential deal could be reached.

Premier Aleksandar Vucic, whose government was sworn in on April 27, has delayed talks with the IMF twice in recent weeks, initially promising a deal with the Washington-based lender in June and then in July. The country is also struggling to deal with floods last month that killed at least 19 people in the largest former Yugoslav republic. The government expects to tally up the damage by end-July to start working on new fiscal targets for this year, Krstic said.

“We will have an IMF mission related to Article IV consultations” which may lead to talks on a three-year stand-by loan by the end of this year, he said.

Facing Delays

After participating in the previous government, Vucic’s party of former nationalists won an absolute majority in March 16 elections, gaining the strongest lock on power in more than two decades, when Slobodan Milosevic was still in control.

While he now plans to prepare Serbia for European Union membership by 2020 and is counting on billions of dollars of investment from the United Arab Emirates to create jobs in an economy where one in four people is unemployed, he’s facing delays in both areas.

The EU will probably open negotiations on the first chapter of EU policy areas in October instead of June, Vucic said this month, after a June 11 meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Meanwhile, the U.A.E. invested 0.3 million euros this year so far, central bank data show.

The yield on Serbia’s 10-year dollar bonds maturing in 2021 rose 2 basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 4.733 percent today, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The dinar traded 0.03 percent weaker at 115.5269 per euro at 3:30 p.m. in Belgrade.

Serbia is running the highest budget shortfall in Europe and it’s “getting closer to the state of pre-bankruptcy” with its public debt soon to reach 80 percent of GDP, Vladimir Vuckovic, a member of the Fiscal Council, a three-member body overseeing fiscal compliance, told B92 TV broadcaster today.

Story: Putin's South Stream Pipeline Could Face a New Obstacle, in Serbia

‘Pre-Bankruptcy State’

Revising the budget will require new spending, revenue and deficit targets after the budget gap exceeded 60 percent of planned full-year total at end-May.

Vucic pledged to embrace painful austerity endorsed by the IMF, which involves saving as much as 1.4 billion euros ($2 billion) in three years, cutting public-sector jobs and ending subsidies to 153 enterprises which employ about 60,000 workers and drain about $1 billion a year from the budget.

“Energetic fiscal consolidation and discipline are imperative to establish political responsibility and precondition for any growth in the future,” he said.

The absence of growth will make it difficult to pursue a major fiscal overhaul, deputy Prime Minister Kori Udovicki told the same conference. Credit activity is weak as the government keeps crowding out the private sector, and banks are reluctant to lend to private clients due to high bad loans, she said.

The government will also take an extra two years to complete the sale of 600 companies, pushing back a previous plan until end-2016, Economy Minister Dusan Vujovic said today. Starting that process this month and revising the budget was a condition for Serbia to qualify for $250 million in World Bank loan to help finance the budget.

 

UAE, Serbia to improve business investments and opportunities (Gulf Today, 25 June 2014)

ABU DHABI: The Serbian Business Council in the UAE has been inaugurated in Abu Dhabi. The Serbian Business Council in the UAE is a new established Business Council in the United Arab Emirates supported by the Embassy of Serbia in the UAE in order to create and improve business opportunities and investments between the Republic of Serbia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Serbian Business Council is the official representative of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce in the UAE.

The opening ceremony was attended by more than 150 persons, dignitaries and society guests from United Arab Emirates and Serbia.

The opening started with a promotional video of the Tourist Organisation of Serbia: ‘Serbia One journey million impressions.’

Guests were welcomed by Mirjana Radenovi Ratkovic, Manager of the Serbian Business Council and Ognjen Sudum, Chairman of the Serbian Business Council.

Companies

Ognjen Sudum said: “Through our activities we will bring back relations between our two countries to the level of the late 70’s and 80’s when UAE and Serbia were both part of non-aligned movement and this was when a lot of Serbian companies were participating in early development of the UAE.”

During the evening, Milos Perisic, Chargé d’Affaires of the Serbian Embassy in the UAE, has awarded acknowledgments to donors who helped Serbia with significant donations during and after the floods that have befallen Serbia in the previous period.

After the UAE visit of Zeljko Serti, President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce in May 2014, an UAE delegation visited back Serbia.

About positive experience and great potential for co-operation between Serbia and UAE, Al Nuaimi, Assistant Secretary General, Federation of UAE Chambers of Commerce, the organiser of the UAE delegation said: “We saw a great potential for co-operation.”

“We were very surprised about what we saw in Serbia. It is a very beautiful and safe country with very hospitable people.”

The Serbian Business Council platinum sponsor, Etihad Airways, has awarded one new SBC member with a free ticket to any Etihad destinations.

The Silver sponsor, Le Méridien Hotel Abu Dhabi and Rolling Pin Bakery from Dubai, also awarded attendees with very valuable prizes.

The Event was closed by one more promotional video of Tourist Organisation of Serbia “Soul Food Serbia”.

The Serbian Business Council UAE is located in the Serbian Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

Serbian Tabloid Editor ‘Won’t Be State TV Chief’ (BIRN, 25 June 2014)

Dragan Vucicevic, editor-in-chief of the tabloid Informer, which is seen close to government, said rumours that he would run Serbian public service broadcaster RTS were nonsense.

Vucicevic has denied claims that he would be appointed director of RTS, brushing off rumours that either he or veteran television editor Milomir Maric could be given the high-profile job.

"How could I possibly be director of RTS when I have never managed any TV station?" Vucicevic told BIRN.

As well as his job at Informer, which is widely seen as a mouthpiece of the Serbian government, Vucicevic runs a popular show called ‘Teska Rec’ (‘Difficult Word’) on TV Pink, on which Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has appeared several times.

However Maric, editor and anchor of a show called ‘Cyrillic’ on the Happy TV channel, refused to make any comment on the issue when contacted by BIRN.

Maric used to be general manager at the private BK TV which shut down in 2006.

Both Vucicevic and Maric were named as possible candidates for the future head of RTS on the respected ‘Utisak Nedelje’ (‘Impression of the Week’) show on TV B92 on Sunday.

Other sources have also told BIRN that Vucicevic is among the candidates for the new state TV boss.

Slobodan Markovic, head of the RTS managing board, said that the new head will be named only after new legislation on public service broadcasting is adopted, which is expected to happen next month.

"The managing board of RTS has decided to wait until the new law is passed, then align the necessary documents with the new law and then announce a competition for the selection of the new general director," Markovic told BIRN.

Under the current legislation, the managing board appoints the chief of RTS.

The station's former director, Aleksandar Tijanic, died in October at the age of 63.

The managing board then appointed Nikola Mirkov as acting head of RTS, "in order to ensure the continuity of the fundamental values of the national public service broadcaster", it said in a statement.

Mirkov was the chief of RTS's station in the capital, TV Beograd.

 

Hackers Bring Down Serbian Tabloid Kurir's Site (BIRN, 24 June 2014)

The website of the Serbian pro-government tabloid Kurir has been attacked by hackers and shut down three times in the course of the day.

"The third attack on the site since midnight is still underway," Kurir said on its Twitter profile on Tuesday afternoon.

BIRN has learned from the newspaper that its hosting service was trying to thwart the attacks, but they were very powerful.

The reason for the hacker assault is so far unclear.

The Serbian Interior Ministry said it was already looking into the issue.

"The Interior Ministry, in coordination with the Special Prosecutor's Office for the fight against cyber-crime, has undertaken measures and activities to shed light on the circumstances of the event and solve the crime of computer sabotage," the ministry said in a statement.

The Serbian Journalists Association, UNS, has called on police to find the perpetrators and go public with the results of the investigation.

The usually pro-government tabloid has recently questioned the sacking of police chief Rodoljub Milovic, accused by drug lord Darko Saric that he had ties to criminal circles. At the same time, the paper accused Montengro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic and his close associate Beba Popovic for imposing control over Serbian media.

 

Macedonian Leaders Meet to Tackle Post-Election Feud (BIRN, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 25 June 2014)

Macedonia's prime minister and opposition leader are starting talks aimed at defusing the political crisis in the country, but experts suggest that progress could be slow.

Prime minister and ruling VMRO DPMNE party leader Nikola Gruevski and Zoran Zaev, the head of the main opposition party, the Social Democrats, SDSM, are starting talks on Tuesday in Skopje to discuss ending the crisis that erupted when the opposition disputed the April elections.

The dispute, which has seen the opposition boycott parliament, could damage Macedonia's EU and NATO membership hopes. But ahead of the talks, both leaders stuck to their opposing positions.

Gruevski told media he hoped that “the opposition stops harming Macedonia” and finally takes up its seats in parliament in order to end the crisis that erupted after the April early elections.

Last week Zaev delivered five conditions which incliuded the formation of a caretaker government, the separation of party and state activities, better regulation of the media, improvements to electoral laws and a national census to determine how many voters there are.

He said that the opposition wants a guarantor from Brussels to oversee any agreement.

Gruevski however has rejected the idea of a caretaker government.

Antonio Milososki, a former Foreign Minister in Gruevski’s cabinet and VMRO DPMNE MP, said he expected the talks to be tough and make slow progress, if any.

“The dialogue will not go easily or quickly. Those who expect too much from this dialogue risk big disappointment. What is most important is for the outcome to be responsible to the electoral will of the people and favourable for Macedonian interests,” Milososki said.

In May, all 33 opposition MPs - bar one - submitted written resignations to the 123-seat parliament after alleging fraud in the April general and presidential elections.

The opposition insisted that the ruling VMRO DPMNE party won both elections illegitimately and demanded the formation of a caretaker government to prepare new polls.

The resignations of the opposition MPs did not greatly affect the work of the new parliament, as 89 of the 123 seats remain filled, which is more than the two-thirds necessary.

However, the political dispute could damage the country's already stalled prospects of Euro-Atlantic integration.

The meeting between the two leaders was agreed last week after local media reported rumours that there were ongoing covert negotiations between the government and the opposition, allegedly instigated by Brussels.