A rejection of this cabinet line-up may force early elections. About 3,000 Macedonian students demonstrated in Skopje on 17 February against a new law introducing teaching in the Albanian language at the teacher-training faculty. The protesters called on Education Minister Sofija Todorova to resign, AFP said. In early February, the Macedonian parliament had voted for Albanian-language education. State-owned agricultural land is also to be privatized.
All banks are also to be gradually privatized.
Bulgaria's caretaker government on 17 February said Bulgaria will apply for full NATO membership, Trud and Demokratsiya reported. It was the first time a Bulgarian government unequivocally spoke in favor of NATO membership. Vladimir Topencharov of the Bulgarian Socialist Party said the decision should have been made by a cabinet elected by the parliament rather than by a caretaker government. He said Moscow does not see an anti-Russian attitude behind the decision. The government made the move to bring prices closer to world market prices and cut down on the losses of Bulgaria's biggest oil refinery, Neftochim in Burgas.