Victoria Nuland. Photo by: MIA

After the German envoy to Macedonia, Johannes Haindl, last week left Skopje without a visible breakthrough in the crisis talks between the parties, Victoria Nuland is expected to pick up where he left off and push for a deal.

“I believe the process [with the stalled talks] will be unblocked very soon,” political analyst Albert Musliu said. “With Nuland’s arrival, and previously with Haindl’s visit, our political leaders will no longer have a choice and a space left to avoid a solution.”

The four main political parties have yet to agree how to ensure balanced reporting in the media, clean up the electoral roll and prevent political influence on voters before the country heads into early elections.

They must also agree on the provisional government which, according to the now moribund EU-brokered crisis deal reached last summer, is expected to prepare the country for the elections.

US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Nuland last visited Macedonia exactly a year ago, last July.

Immediately after her visit, the political parties signed an agreement brokered by the EU Enlargement Commissioner, Johannes Hahn.

But since then, early elections have been postponed twice due to unfulfilled reforms. The ruling majority in parliament has also since dismissed the opposition ministers who joined the government to ensure fair polls.

The only part of the agreement that effectively remains alive is the Special Prosecution, SJO, which was established to investigate high-level corruption, mostly involving senior state officials.

“Nuland is also expected to press for measures that will strengthen the functioning of the [Special] Prosecution. A formation of a special department of court to handle these cases is one of those measures,” a source close to the political talks told BIRN under condition of anonymity.

Since its formation last autumn, the SJO has accused other institutions of creating obstacles. One was created by President Gjorge Ivanov who earlier this year issued – and then withdrew – pardons for many top politicians and their associates.

The courts have also in many cases either refused SJO demands or questioned its authority.

After the SJO started opening cases that mainly concerned alleged criminal activities on the part of current and former state officials from the ruling VMRO DPMNE party, VMRO DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski and the pro-government media accused it of working under opposition or “foreign” instructions.

Last week, the US Ambassador to Macedonia, Jess Baily, pledged full support for the rule of law in Macedonia, and for the work of the SJO.

“Macedonia’s current political crisis raised allegations of abuse of authority and possible criminal behavior, combined with allegations of executive interference in judicial and prosecutorial matters” Baily wrote on Facebook.

“Whether the SJO is successful in conducting unhindered, non-partisan, and professional investigations with full support from all institutions is a real test for the rule of law in this country,” he wrote.

The US ambassador dismissed claims made in some local media that America was trying to destabilize Macedonia as “absurd”.

Last week, Haindl failed to meet Gruevski, who, accourding to his party, was attending a wedding abroad.

Haindl said he had been informed that Gruevski was away on a private trip, adding that the responsibility for overcoming the crisis fell to all Macedonian political leaders.

Before leaving, on Thursday, Haindl said in Skopje that a deal between the parties on the electoral roll and the media must be reached before the summer holidays, and that without fulfilled reforms there is no point in having early elections.

The crisis in Macedonia escalated in February 2015, when the opposition started releasing batches of covertly recorded tapes, which it said showed that the VMRO DPMNE-led government was behind the illegal surveillance of some 20,000 people, including ministers. They said the tapes proved many criminal allegations against government members.

Gruevski, who was Prime Minister from 2006 until he resigned earlier this year under the EU-brokered deal, has said the tapes were “fabricated” by unnamed foreign intelligence services and given to the opposition in order to destabilise the country.