Macedonian lawmakers debate confidence motion against govt

SKOPJE, Macedonia – Macedonia's parliament has begun debating a no-confidence motion by the conservative opposition, which argues that the country's 11-month-old Social Democrat government has failed to control corruption or halt economic stagnation.

The motion by the VMRO-DPMNE party has little chance of being approved in the vote late Wednesday by the 120-member parliament, where it controls 53 seats together with political allies.

Struggling with an $11 billion economy after a decade of flat growth, Macedonia has been rattled by successive political crises, marked by intense rivalry between the conservatives and Prime Minister Zoran Zaev's Social Democrats.

Zaev is trying to resolve a long-standing dispute with neighbor Greece over the former Yugoslav republic's name. Negotiations resume Thursday when the foreign ministers of the two countries meet at the lakeside resort of Ohrid.