The first deputy prime minister in the resigned Government of North Macedonia, Artan Grubi, says that the country has no time for political adventures and the focus should be on resolving the dispute with Bulgaria, which then unblocks the European road. Grubi is optimistic that in a short period of time Macedonia will be able to open negotiations with the European Union, but says that in order to achieve this, the country must have institutional stability, opposing here the possibility of holding early elections. In an interview for KosovaPress, Grubi talks, among other things, about the position that DUI will have in the new government and about the "Open Balkans" regional initiative.

Grubi stated that the position of the first deputy prime minister in the new Government of North Macedonia will again belong to the Democratic Union for Integration (BDI).

Until the social democrats of SDSM will change some of the ministers, DUI will not have any changes in the new composition of the government cabinet except that it is expected to take the direction of the Ministry of Education.

"The DUI will be in these positions that it has, which are very affirmative, very beneficial for the citizens with the position that I exercise as the first deputy prime minister, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Economy, with the Minister of the Environment, but we have only one change, in the Minister for Information Society and Administration, we will probably exchange it with the Ministry of Education, which means we will get a ministry that we have led before, but which we also aimed for.. "Yes, we keep the same positions, the change will happen in SDSM with the Prime Minister, Dimitar Kovacevski instead of Zoran Zaev, but according to the warnings, they will also make other changes in many of the ministries", says Grubi.

The changes in the political scene in the neighboring country came after the Besa Movement left the government coalition, making the position and the opposition have the same number of deputies in the Assembly. However, Alternativa with its four MPs decided to join the coalition, returning the numbers in favor of the current government coalition.

The shake-ups in the coalition came as a result of the poor result in the local elections where even the head of the government, Zoran Zaev, resigned, an action that was opposed by DUI.

Grubi says that early elections and political crises would have affected the stagnation of the processes related to the opening of negotiations with the European Union.

North Macedonia is before setting the date for holding the first intergovernmental meeting with the European Union, which also marks the opening of negotiations and the approval of the negotiating framework with the EU. At the same point is Albania, which is stuck as a result of the Bulgarian veto against North Macedonia.

"This (opening of negotiations with the EU) is being hindered by Bulgaria due to the dispute regarding the implementation of the agreement of August 2, 2017, and we are hoping that this will be overcome as soon as possible. To achieve this, we need institutional stability in the Assembly, in the Government and for Sofia to know after the election of the new government there in the Republic of Bulgaria that it has a partner in Skopje with which it can bring decisions and unlock our progress towards the European Union", says Grubi.

Grubi is optimistic that the first intergovernmental conference will be held in the early spring of this year.

"Despite this issue with Bulgaria, which is vital for the future of the country, we also have the energy crisis, as you also have in Kosovo, as it is everywhere in Europe, we have the health crisis as well as the crisis with migrants and we have no time for adventures and institutional political unpredictability for our citizens in the near future. We are optimistic about overcoming the dispute with Bulgaria because we have already answered five of their questions, or five issues which they raise in the resolution approved in the Bulgarian Parliament, and we are hoping that based on these two positions of Sofia and Skopje , and our responses to their issues, to sit down at a negotiating table in an intensive manner, to harmonize positions, to bring them closer together and to remove the Bulgarian blockade from our European journey", says the first deputy prime minister of North Macedonia.

For KosovaPress, Grubi also talks about the agreement with the coalition partner SDSM, regarding the leadership of the government by an Albanian prime minister in the last 100 days of government.

He says that it will be determined by the head of DUI, Ali Ahmeti, and that this will prove that the Albanians in North Macedonia can also hold the post of prime minister and president.

"They have publicly pledged and I do not believe that anyone, whatever the Albanian political party, would not have the courage not to vote for an Albanian candidate for the first time to be elected prime minister in our Assembly with the votes in the Assembly, therefore I see no challenge to especially, I don't see a particular challenge for VMRO-DPMNE either, because they are also willing to vote for an Albanian as prime minister in this country, especially in the last 100 days of this government. This initiative is more than symbolic, if it was only one day it would be symbolic, but 100 days is not a little before the elections, of course there are 60 days after the elections until the election of the new government due to negotiations, but to establish a new rule, it will establish a new reality in our country and it will be seen that there is broad impartiality from the whole society to have an Albanian at the head of the government", he says.

Speaking about the "Open Balkans" regional initiative, which currently only includes Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia, Grubi says that all disagreements and rejections should be discussed at the table.

"Each of these six countries, the opinion they have within the framework of the forum at the table, even the biggest disagreement, even the rejection, should be said at the table with all the reasons they may have. As far as I have talked with our friends in Kosovo, the authorities, both from the previous government and from the current government, most of the rejections or remarks from Kosovo come from the form for the reason that the birth of this idea of ​​the mini-shengen originally or of the Open Balkans came from that meeting in Nis without the involvement of all others and without the consultation of all others. But our insistence, if you remember since then, has been that this initiative can have our support only if it has the support of the European Union and the United States of America, which happened, as well as with the equal inclusion of Kosovo as a state of independent, recognized by all of us and equal at the negotiating table for the Open Balkans", says Grubi.

Grubi says that Kosovo should be an equal member of the Open Balkans while adding that the issue with Serbia should only be closed with mutual recognition.

"I hope for an intensive dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade, respect for the agreements by both sides as well as their implementation, but also the conclusion of this dialogue with the support of the United States of America and the European Union, with absolute mutual recognition between the two countries. The Republic of Kosovo is a reality, it is an independent state, it has the recognition of Albania, the Republic of North Macedonia, and Montenegro, so the time has come for the Republic of Serbia to recognize this reality that Kosovo does not belong to it. "Serbia is an independent state and I must recognize it days before in order to bring security, stability, peace to the entire region and enable the economic development of the region after such political obstacles", he says.

The first deputy prime minister in North Macedonia says that they are interested in completely removing the border with Kosovo, but that they are initially working to have a single border crossing-control.