MACEDONIA:MACEDONIA'S GOVERNMENT faces collapse amid a row over the rights of the country's Albanian minority and its failure to recognise the independence of neighbouring Kosovo.
The main ethnic Albanian party in Macedonia has quit the ruling coalition at a tense time, as the country tries to persuade Nato members that it should be invited to join the alliance at next month's summit in Romania.
Critics of Kosovo's independence have warned that it could destabilise Macedonia, which was saved from civil war in 2001 by a deal brokered by the EU and Nato, resulting in fighting between government forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.
As well as demanding recognition of a sovereign Kosovo, the Democratic Party of Albanians is demanding greater freedom to use the Albanian language and flag, and wants veterans of the 2001 insurgency to be given state benefits.
The party, which is popular among Macedonia's 25 per cent Albanian minority, quit the government on Thursday night.
Prime minister Nikola Gruevski must now find another coalition partner or lead a minority government - or call elections.
A spokeswoman for the European Commission urged Macedonia's political parties yesterday to "work in the spirit of consensus, and engage in continuous dialogue in order to ensure success of the reform process".
President Branko Crvenkovski, meanwhile, has urged the government to resolve the "serious political crisis. . . [ and] focus on the key issue, the Nato summit and how to receive an invitation".
Greece has threatened to veto Macedonia's bid for Nato membership until it changes its name, which the Balkan state shares with a province of northern Greece.
