SKOPJE (North Macedonia), June 24 (SeeNews) – North Macedonia's prime minister Zoran Zaev said he will dismiss several cabinet ministers and take over as finance minister as the government strives to bring economic growth into sharper focus.
"We have announced that this year is the year of the economy," Zaev said, as quoted in a government statement on Sunday. "Coming up next are courageous decisions, courageous solutions, from which all citizens should see the benefits, in the social sphere, in the field of agriculture, in wages," he went onto say.
"When all major political issues have been resolved, what remains to be done is to raise living standards, and I believe that in the coming months we will have the opportunity to show serious achievements in managing the financial resources in the country," Zaev also said.
Zaev added that he will act as minister of finance, replacing Dragan Tevdovski, for a certain period of time, while also serving as prime minister.
Sadula Duraku will be in charge of relations between the communities. Naser Nuredini will take over the ministry of environment and spatial planning. Agriculture minister Ljupco Nikolovski will be replaced by Trajan Dimkovski, culture minister Asaf Ademi by Husni Ismaili and local self-government minister Suhejl Fazliu by Goran Milevski.
The new cabinet lineup will not include a minister without portfolio in charge of investment climate.
The government reshuffle comes a week after the Council of the European Union said it will discuss the issue of opening accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania no later than October in light of the limited time available and the importance of the matter.
North Macedonia has been an EU candidate country since 2005.