The Liberal and Democrat Group in the European Parliament strongly condemns the violence that erupted in the Macedonian Parliament as it was stormed by hundreds of angry masked protesters after an ethnic Albanian was elected speaker.
ALDE Group leader, Guy Verhofstadt urges all political parties to distance themselves from violence and to return to a political process:
“A parliament cannot be turned into a boxing ring. This is unacceptable! Politics must take place at the negotiating table and I call on VMRO to distance itself from violence, and on all political forces in Macedonia to respect the democratic rules of the game, respect electoral results and proceed to creating a government. The European future of Macedonia and also peace in the region are at stake.
The situation is fragile; I urge HRVP Mogherini and the European Union’s leadership to step up its engagement, in order to facilitate a political process leading to the creation of a government in Macedonia.”
ALDE MEP Ivo Vajgl (DeSUS, Slovenia), European Parliament’s rapporteur on Macedonia, added:
„The acts of violence which took place in the Sobranie last night are absolutely unacceptable, under any circumstances and by any democratic standards. The perpetrators of these grave attacks need to be identified and punished. The VMRO leadership and the President of Macedonia must take responsibility for the destabilisation of the country. Now more than ever, the EU should strengthen its support for Macedonia ‘s democratic transition and the resolution of longstanding bilateral disputes.”
At least four MPs, including Social Democratic Union leader Zoran Zaev, were injured yesterday evening when supporters of the former ruling VMRO DPMNE party stormed the parliament in Skopje after the former opposition elected a parliamentary speaker in a bid to form a government.
