The Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) remained true to threats from earlier this week and pulled out from the cabinet of prime minister Nikola Gruevski March 13, Reuters news agency reported.

DPA left over Gruevski's reluctance to meet its requests for broader rights for Macedonian Albanians. Namely, it wanted Albanian to make the second language in the country, to raise the flag of Albanian on top of buildings of Macedonian authorities, as well as benefits for veterans of the 2001 guerrilla insurgency.

The DPA decision came despite the efforts of Macedonian president Branko Crvenkovski and the US ambassador to Macedonia to keep the party in the government coalition.

Gruevski is yet to come up with a public reaction to the news and what would be his next move. Gruevski's options are either co-opting new partners into the coalition or lead a minority government until the Nato summit in Bucharest next month, where the country hopes to get an invitation for membership in Nato.