21/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - Meeting on 22 April between Europeans and Macedonian political leaders cancelled. On Thursday 21 April, European Parliament mediators, Eduard Kukan (EPP, Slovakia), Richard Howitt (S&D, United Kingdom), Ivo Vajgl (ALDE, Slovenia) and the Commissioner for Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, announced that the meeting planned for 22 April in Vienna with Macedonian political leaders (see EUROPE 11535) for trying to rescue implementation of the political agreement obtained last summer, had been cancelled. The main opposition party refused to take part in this meeting if certain conditions were not fulfilled. Hahn, Howitt, Kukan and Vajgl announced that they remained "strongly committed and available to assist the parties. However, we emphasize that the responsibility to ensure democratic progress…rests with the parties themselves". According to the mediators the breakdown of the political agreement could have "very serious consequences for the country". Without adding any further precisions, they also said that "In the absence of any further progress, we are now forced to consider further actions to meet the requirements clearly laid out by the European Council, European Commission and European Parliament". (CG)