Hristijan Mickoski

The right-wing VMRO DPMNE opposition party cannot sell or rent its lavish 'white palace' HQ in central Skopje, nor many of its other real-estate assets across the country, until the end of the major money-laundering case codenamed 'Talir', the Special Prosecution, SJO told BIRN on Thursday.

Skopje Criminal Court issued this ruling on Wednesday, the sources said.

Several prominent opposition party officials and MPs resigned from their VMRO DPMNE party positions in the past few days, accusing the leadership of isolating the party and taking an anti-Western course which they do not want to follow.

The most recent to resign, on Wednesday, was the head of the party's youth union, Luka Krzaloski. 

At an extraordinary session of its central committee on Monday night, VMRO DPMNE purged several high-profile members, requested resignations from renegade MPs who supported the 'name' agreement with Greece at last week's parliamentary vote and threatened to oust other MPs if they support the agreement in the future.

The leader of the main opposition party in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) has urged the left-wing government to call early elections and to give up on a deal that would change the country's name in exchange for the chance to fulfill its NATO ambitions. 

The vice-president of Macedonia's main ruling Social Democratic Party, Petre Shilegov, on Wednesday confirmed that his parliamentary group has begun talks with its opposition rivals in parliament to persuade them to vote for the historic "name" agreement with Greece.

According to the results of the recent referendum in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on its name deal with Greece, out of a total of about 661 thousand votes, 91.5 percent were in favor of the deal, compared to 5.6 percent who voted "no," while 2.8 percent of all ballots cast were invalid.

AFP - Macedonia's government vowed Monday to push ahead with changing the country's name to appease Greece and build ties with the West, but opponents said low turnout in a referendum on the move made it illegitimate.

Premier Zoran Zaev wants to rename the Balkan state North Macedonia to end a long-running row with Athens and open a path to EU and NATO membership.

The conservative opposition leader in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) indicated a subtle shift in his stance towards the Prespes Agreement achieved with Greece, based on comments made in a show on broadcaster TV21.

The conservative opposition leader in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) indicated a subtle shift in his stance towards the Prespes Agreement achieved with Greece, based on comments made in a show on broadcaster TV21.

Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said he hoped parliament would adopt a formal decision supporting the referendum on the country's deal with Greece by Monday - which he added would then be staged with or without the support of the main opposition VMRO DPMNE party.