Skopje

Macedonia's opposition Social Democrats on Friday presented fresh wiretapped conversations, which they say show that the Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, was the hidden architect of the state-funded revamp of the capital, known as Skopje 2014.

They also presented tapes that they say show government ministers and senior officials' on a property-buying spree in Skopje.

Macedonian opposition leader Zoran Zaev, who heads socialist SDSM, is due in Bulgaria on Friday.

A day earlier his party's website informed of the visit, adding he would meet both leaders of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and state officials.

No schedule of the visit has been made public.

The leader of Macedonia's opposition Social Democrats Zoran Zaev will pay one-day visit to neighbouring Bulgaria on Friday, the party has announced.

Zaev is expected to meet high-ranking Bulgarian officials as well as leaders of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), according to the announcement posted on the website of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) on Thursday.

Bulgaria backs the idea to send an EU Special Representative to Macedonia in a bid to solve the political crisis in the country, according to Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov.

Mitov made clear in a Thursday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio that Bulgaria had stated its support for the initiative put forth by Germany a long time ago.

Speaking on a stage in front of the government headquarters in Skopje, opposition Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev said he expected the crisis over the illegal surveillance scandal in Macedonia to end soon with the aid of international mediation.

Zoran Zaev, leader of Macedonia's opposition Social Democrats, expects the political crisis in the country to be resolved by the end of June.

The covertly-recorded tapes of Macedonian officials' conversations that the opposition says it plans to publish soon could undermine the official story about the six men convicted of the murders at Smilkovci Lake near Skopje in 2012, the head of the opposition Social Democrats, Zoran Zaev, said on Wednesday.

Andonovski was appointed the new head of Macedonia's intelligence agency, the UBK, on Tuesday at a government session.

He was the former head of the Skopje branch of the secret police. His resume says he has worked in the police since 1987.

A third meeting of Macedonian political leaders has failed to produce any tangible results, local media outlets say.

Heads of four parties held another round of talks in the country's capital Skopje amid a political crisis, with socialist opposition leader Zoran Zaev demanding the government's resignation in a wiretapping scandal.

Macedonian leaders meet in Skopje on Tuesday for talks on the country's crisis facilitated by the US ambassador, Jess Baily, and the EU ambassador, Aivo Orav.