Vlado Buckovski

Prime Minister, Macedonia

(BBC - 07/05/06; Southeast Europe Online - 16/12/04; Reuters, MIA, Makfax - 17/12/04; FT - 16/12/04; AP, Makfax, MIA - 15/12/04; Macedonian Agency of Information; Wikipedia)

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Vlado Buckovski, the leader of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), was formally appointed prime minister on 17 December 2004, nearly a month after the resignation of his predecessor, Hari Kostov.

Buckovski was born on 2 December 1962 in Skopje. He graduated from the Faculty of Law in Skopje in 1986. He went on to obtain his Masters and Ph.D. degrees at the same institution, in 1991 and 1998 respectively.

From 1987 to 1988 Buckovski served as an expert at the Macedonian Parliament. He then joined the Faculty of Law in Skopje in 1988, working in various positions. In 2003, he became an associate professor.

From 1998 to 2000 Buckovski was a member of the State Election Commission and from 2000 to 2001 he was chairman of the Skopje City Council.

On 13 May 2001 he was appointed minister of defence in a broad coalition government led by former prime minister Ljubco Georgievski, serving in the post until 26 November of the same year.

Buckovski assumed the defence ministry portfolio again on 1 November 2002, when then SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski was elected prime minister for the second time in his career, following his party's victory in parliamentary elections a month and a half earlier. On 15 September 2003, Buckovski became head of the government's legal council.

Following his victory in early presidential elections in April 2004, Crvenkovski left the SDSM. On 26 November that year -- eight days after Kostov's sudden resignation -- Buckovski replaced Crvenkovski as SDSM leader and was given the mandate to form Macedonia's new government.

On 15 December 2004, Buckovski presented in parliament his proposal for an 18-member cabinet, including eight ministers from Kostov's team along with 10 new ministers. He pledged to speed up the implementation of reforms needed for the country's EU and NATO integration, naming economic development, judicial reforms and fighting crime and corruption as the proposed government's other top priorities. He also promised "consistent implementation of the Framework Agreement," which ended the six-month ethnic conflict in Macedonia in 2001.

"Solving interethnic tensions and exhausting political struggles takes so much time and energy that we cannot dedicate ourselves to solving the real problems facing the people," he told parliament as he outlined his priorities. "This government has no intention of allowing anyone to destabilise the security situation in Macedonia."

The 120-seat parliament voted for his government by 71 to 25.