Talat Xhaferi

The Neighborhood and Friendship Agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria, signed on 1 August by the Prime Ministers of both countries Zoran Zaev and Boyko Borisov, will be ratified by parliament in January.

This was stated by the Macedonian Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi during a meeting with Bulgarian Vice President Iliyana Yotova.

Police arrested the five people at their homes on Tuesday on suspicion that they were accomplices to the attempted murder of MP Zijadin Sela.

The parliamentary speaker and the ruling majority are being urged to take action to curb the stalling tactics of the opposition VMRO DPMNE party which have been blocking parliament's work for the past month and a half.

President Rumen Radev praised the friendship and cooperation treaty signed by Bulgaria and Macedonia yesterday.

''A new European page has been opened today in the bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Macedonia'', President said. 

Macedonian police say they have boosted security in and around the mountain town of Krusevo in case of incidents during Wednesday's commemoration of Ilinden, the St Elijah's Day uprising against Ottoman rule in 1903.

Macedonia's Organized Crime Prosecution has apparently identified some of the masked thugs who took part in a rampage in parliament in April, an unnamed source in the prosecution body told BIRN on Monday.

They have done so by comparing photographs taken before the rampage with footage taken during the actual attack on parliament, the source said.

Many of the new government's proposed bills, regulations and appointments may fall victim to the strategy adopted by the former ruling VMRO DPMNE, whose MPs have formed ten separate parliamentary caucuses which gave them more opportunities to stall parliament's work.

An Interior Ministry report completed last week but not yet made public says a violent attack on parliament by VMRO DPMNE party supporters on April 27 was not spontaneous.

A proposal was submitted to the parliament of Macedonia on Sunday night of the members and the programme of the new Macedonian cabinet with Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, reported BNR.

Parliamentary speaker Talat Xhaferi stated that discussions on the new cabinet will start on 30 May.

The video, captured by security cameras inside the Macedonian parliament shows Krsto Mukoski and Saso Vasilevski, two MPs from the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE party, removing the security bars from the main gate just seconds before the crowd of angry VMRO-DPMNE supporters enter parliament going on to attack their bitter political opponents.