Parliament approves government reshuffle

Macedonian parliament on Tuesday approved the reshuffled government after a two-and-half-hour debate.

Xhelal Bajrami of the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) took up the post of Minister of Environment & Spatial Planning. He will replace the outgoing Minister Imer Aliu, who was appointed a minister without portfolio.

The government said Aliu will also take up the post of Deputy Prime Minister in charge of implementation of the Framework Agreement. He will succeed Imer Selmani.

"This aims to strengthen the post of deputy prime minister in terms of full dedication to the implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement," Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski told the lawmakers.

He added that the incumbent Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Imer Selmani run the post quite well, however, Minister Selmani could not focus on health-care reform while holding two posts at the same time. Therefore, he was relieved of Deputy PM duty.

PM Gruevski's government now includes 14 ministers plus eight ministers without portfolio.