North Macedonia is a southeastern European country that has been struggling to integrate into the EU. The country made significant compromises for accession, including changing its name, but progress has been slow. The recent election results reflect this frustration, with the national conservative VMRO-DPMNE winning a landslide victory in parliamentary elections, falling just short of an absolute majority. The party leader Hristijan Mickoski is the new head of government, replacing Dimitar Kovacevski’s Social Democrats.
The lack of transparency in negotiations and trust issues are just some of the obstacles that have hindered progress towards EU integration. This is compounded by the dispute with Bulgaria over questions of identity and recognition of a Bulgarian minority in North Macedonia. Despite these challenges, North Macedonia has continued to make efforts towards integration, including joining NATO. However, these efforts have not been enough to address corruption and other issues that plague the country.
The Albanian coalition partner DUI played a role in North Macedonia’s political landscape in recent elections, but it was not enough to win them outright. However, there was a united Albanian opposition that made gains in the recent election results. The election winner Mickoski is not reliant on DUI to integrate the Albanian minority and this shows that he wants to take control and lead his own country without relying on others to do so.
In conclusion, the election results reflect both frustration with the slow progress towards EU integration and discontent with governance issues within North Macedonia’s Social Democratic government. It remains to be seen how quickly North Macedonia can overcome these obstacles and move forward with its integration into Europe.