The two men have clashed over the handling of the name issue with Greece. During the NATO Summit of April this year where Greece effectively blocked FYROM from assession to NATO, Crvenkovski had urged the government to find a compromise with Greece. The hardline nationalist Gruevski had insisted that no compromise with Greece could be found.

Crvenkovski has been accused of playing party politics by supporters of the government coalition, led by the VMRO-DPMNE. Crvenkovski is considered to still be an influential figure in the center-left SDSM opposition party.

Dnevnik reports that Gruevski has insisted that his party's secretary shadow the activities the country's negotiator in the name discussions with Greece, whom he considers pro-Crvenkovski.

Gruevski is possibly being held back from any move to impeach given such a move might be construed as damaging to FYROM's democratic credentials in the eyes of NATO and the EU. The Greek newspaper Ethnos reports that Gruevski may choose instead to use his majority in the parliament to alter the constitution so that the president is no longer elected directly by the population but appointed by parliament; thereby assuring Crvenkovski will not serve another term.

Crvenkovski was accused by the coalition of obstructing the appointment of two new ambassadors to India and China. The president responded via his office's official website calling such suggestions "falsehoods" and claiming the government had "not followed proper legal procedure" in the appointment of the ambassadors.

(SOURCES: DNEVNIK, ETHNOS)

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