President Gorge Ivanov

The European Union (EU) has warned that elections in Macedonia scheduled for June could fail to win international recognition due to an opposition boycott.

Maja Kocijancic, Spokeswoman for EU Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner, Johannes Hahn, said this on Tuesday in Brussels.

She said that the elections are part of a broad, EU-brokered agreement to resolve a long-running political crisis between Gruevski’s VMRO and the Social Democratic Union (SDSM) opposition, who refused to acknowledge the result of snap elections two years ago.

Kocijancic said the elections should not go ahead on June 5 because several political parties had not submitted their list of candidates by the deadline.

“We believe that, under the current circumstances, any government resulting from elections where three major political parties are not participating would not be a credible partner for the international community.

Kocijancic also stressed the need to overhaul the voters’ list, ensure balanced media coverage and investigate issues such as voter intimidation.

She said this has simply not been done.

Kocijancic also called upon President Gorge Ivanov to revoke pardons granted last month to dozens of politicians, including Gruevski, implicated in corruption allegations or a wiretapping scandal affecting hundreds of thousands of Macedonians.

“Justice must prevail and must be seen to prevail.

“This is the only way that the citizens’ trust will be restored” and would “help to end the current tensions,” she said.

Kocijancic said the EU was willing to help Macedonia, a membership candidate to overcome its political impasse, but warned that the main responsibility lies with the parties involved.

The spokeswoman added that continuous political crisis in the country is moving the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia further away from its Euro-Atlantic aspirations, using the country’s formal title.

Kocijancic disclosed that last month, efforts by the EU to broker fresh talks among the four feuding parties failed when SDSM Zaev refused to attend the meeting in Vienna unless the presidential pardons were revoked and the June elections were delayed