VMRO DPMNE party

The motion to define marriage strictly as a union of one man and one woman, submitted at the weekend, was one of the first orders of business of the conservative Government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski  after it was re-elected in April.

The ruling VMRO DPMNE party of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has said it is willing to accept European mediation in further talks with the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, after a first attempt at dialogue made no progress.

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.

Zoran Zaev, head of the main opposition Social Democratic Party, SDSM, has set five terms that he said the government of Nikola Gruevski must meet if they plan to end the post-election crisis.

Macedonia's opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, said their leader, Zoran Zaev, had accepted a proposal to meet Prime Minister and VMRO DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski in the coming days to discuss ending the crisis that could worsen Macedonia's EU and NATO membership hopes.

It remains to be seen whether Gruevski's proposed date of Friday is acceptable for the opposition.

The DPA’s central presidency said this weekend that it would not become part of the new government led by Nikola Gruevski that is to be officially elected in parliament on Thursday.

The party said it did not believe that Gruevski and his allies, who led the last government, could make a breakthrough on the country's priority issues.

In an interview for state run MIA news Agency, Nikola Gruevski for the first time has denied involvement in a bank sale that the opposition revealed in late April.

“I have never taken a million-and-a-half euros in cash, nor have I in any other way  taken any other sum for the sale of Makedonska Banka. All the other accusations that come out of this are also untrue,” Gruevski said.

After Macedonia held a constituent session of the new parliament on Saturday without opposition MPs, legislators from the ruling coalition are mulling how to fill key parliamentary bodies that require opposition MPs' presence.

The inaugural session in parliament on Monday was held in a half-empty hall, with almost the entire opposition and the junior ruling Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, refusing to attend.

Newly elected opposition legislators did not appear on Wednesday at the State Electoral Commission, SEC, to receive their certificates to sit in the 123-member parliament.