According to the deal, lawmakers need to approve a caretaker government 100 days before the December elections.
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The country’s feuding party leaders met Wednesday to set the new date for national elections following two failed attempts to hold a vote.
Both the governing conservatives and the main opposition Social Democrats have suggested December 11 as an acceptable date for the parliamentary vote.
Macedonian political leaders and EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn during talks held last summer.
The Macedonian parliament was formally dissolved on 6 April, paving the way for early elections in June.
After street protests on both sides, the European Union stepped in to mediate a deal that included early elections.
“The leaders also commit to a democratic and competitive election campaign free of violence and intimidation and will condemn any use of language or any kind of action that might incite violence or intimidation”, the statement continued.
Party chiefs told reporters that the agreement on a December election in the small Balkan republic was reached after a six-hour meeting on Wednesday. The opposition is to head the labor and interior ministries, and to nominate deputy ministers for finance and agriculture, RFE/RL writes.
On the same day, a new editor-in-chief will be appointed at the public broadcaster MTV, named Santa Argirova, to make sure reporting will be balanced before the elections.
Macedonia has been in deep political crisis since February 2015, when Zaev began releasing tapes that appeared to reveal official and widespread wiretapping, top-level corruption and other crimes.
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Gruevski, who served as prime minister from 2006 until he was forced to resign earlier this year as part of the US/EU-brokered deal, has denied any wrongdoing in relation to the wiretap scandal.
