The European Union has forged a deal between feuding Macedonian leaders that paves the way for early elections in April 2016, A1 television reported Tuesday, according to dpa. The two sides are to continue negotiating the technical conditions under which the elections will be held, EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said after mediating the talks in Skopje for eight hours. "It was agreed that by the end of April next year, there should be early elections, but it is important to prepare the country," Hahn said. "It is about sound electoral codes, it is about a revised voting list, it is about respecting the rights of minorities." The talks are set to continue in Brussels on June 10. The agreement Hahn brokered between conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and opposition chief Zoran Zaev pushes the elections two years forward, aiming to resolve a crippling, dangerous crisis that has raised tensions in volatile Macedonia and the region. Zaev's Social Democratic Union (SDSM) has boycotted the parliament since elections last year, accusing Gruevski and his VMRO party of rigging them. SDSM has been pressing for Gruevski to resign and make way for a technical government that would prepare fair elections. Since February, Zaev has released batches of wiretaps that he said were proof of Gruevski's violations and corruption. The crisis escalated over the previous month as police clashed with pro-opposition demonstrators in Skopje and a still unexplained gunfight between police and ethnic Albanian gunmen, whom the authorities said were terrorists, left 22 people dead in Kumanovo. The EU recognized Macedonia as a membership candidate in 2005, but has still not opened accession talks with it. Progress has been slow because of lagging reforms, as well as a row of Skopje and Athens over the name Macedonia, which Greece claims for its northern province. Because of that Greece has blocked Macedonia from entering NATO in 2009.
