BRUSSELS (AP) — Britain has warned Macedonia that its future in the European Union and NATO could be in peril amid political turmoil linked to a wiretapping scandal last year.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Monday that "over the last nine or months or so, we've seen things going backwards."

He said "we need to be very clear and blunt with the Macedonians that if we see things going backwards they can make no further progress towards collaboration with the European Union, with NATO."

Macedonia has been locked in turmoil over opposition allegations that the conservative government wiretapped around 20,000 people, including police, diplomats, judges and journalists.

An early election slated for June 5 that was meant to defuse the crisis has been delayed.