Micevski: Everything that is Macedonian can be erased with one amendment

VMRO-DPMNE will take part in the commission’s debate on the draft amendments on constitutional changes that begins today. The opposition believes that this way they will get another chance to expose the proposals of the government, which, as they say, are allowing other things that have not been discussed before to pass. Coordination meetings of the coalition “For a united Macedonia” led by VMRO-DPMNE continue in the coming days, the details will be agreed on what will be the performance of the MP.

The new coordinator of the main opposition party, Nikola Micevski, said that they prepared a lot of material with remarks on the entire process, starting with the fact that the government did not stop the constitutional changes process 60 days after the referendum, the results of which were published in the Official Gazette clearly indicated that there was no mood among the people for accepting the agreement with Greece.

“Unfortunately, Zoran Zaev’s government continues to rape the process. We have a bunch of remarks on the text of the draft amendments. The biggest disturbance is the amendment related to the replacement of the word Republic of Macedonia with the Republic of North Macedonia, everywhere in the constitution, which will say that only with one draft proposal everything that is Macedonian will be erased”, said Micevski for Nezavisen Vesnik/Independent Newspaper.

He and the parliamentary group from VMRO-DPMNE cannot understand why the Ohrid Framework Agreement is included now in the preamble of the constitution, when citizens did not vote for it in the referendum, nor did such a possibility existed in the public. This, according to the party, is immature behavior by a government that makes spontaneous decisions, and that entails changing and adjusting the strategy of how it should act.

“There will be a major disfigurement of all constitutional amendments and everything that is happening in Macedonia, for which we, as MPs and as a party, have reacted in the past period”, stressed Micevski.

VMRO-DPMNE admits there is currently a new reality in parliament, that is, 80 MPs who voted for the need to start constitutional changes, but that the process is long.

The debate on the draft amendments submitted by the government last week begins today in the Commission for Constitutional Affairs. The Legislative Commission will discuss them tomorrow. Within 30 days from the submission of the amendments, they should be scheduled for a plenary session. An absolute majority of 61 MPs is necessary for the text to be confirmed.
As the government announced, the first amendment refers to the replacement of the word Republic of Macedonia with the Republic of North Macedonia, everywhere in the constitution, except in Article 36, where it has a historical aspect. The second refers to the Preamble to the Constitution, where the decisions of ASNOM are replaced with the proclamation of the First ASNOM Meeting and the Ohrid Framework Agreement is added for it to become a constitutive element of the state. In the third amendment, only one paragraph is added: the Republic respects the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of the neighboring countries, which gives stronger guarantees of the durability and inviolability of the borders with Greece, although it applies to all its neighbors. In the fourth amendment, in addition to confirming the Macedonian identity, it is stated that the Republic protects the rights and interests of its citizens living or staying abroad, and promotes their ties to their homeland.

Goran Adamovski