Name agreement to be ratified in Parliament later today


A session of the Parliament’s committee on European affairs is scheduled to start at 15:00h in which MPs will be reviewing the draft-law on ratification of the Macedonia-Greece name agreement. The legislative committee’s session is slated for 15:15h.

The session shouldn’t take long having in mind that the deal should be only reviewed before the MPs express their views about the document and that opposition deputies will not take part in the committee’s session. If conditions are created, Tuesday’s session could resume right after the committee’s debates and the agreement could be ratified by the end of the day, sources of the ruling majority say.

The Parliament on Tuesday held its 51st session in which the MPs (69 in favor and 40 against) approved the necessity for adopting the draft-law on ratification of the name agreement with Greece.

VMRO-DPMNE MPs voted against and announced that they would not take part in the adoption of the draft-law on the deal’s ratification.

The necessity to fast-track this law in Parliament was elaborated by Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Dimitrov.

The bill, he said, is envisaged in the national program on applying the EU’s law as part of the political criteria considering regional cooperation and international duties. The deadline for its adoption expires on June 22. “Bearing in mind the country’s European and Euro-Atlantic perspectives, it is more than necessary to fast-track the law,” Dimitrov stressed.

Under the deal, the Minister continued, after it is ratified in Macedonia’s Parliament, Greece is tasked with informing the European Council President, Donald Tusk, that it endorses the opening of EU negotiations and with notifying NATO Secretary General  Jens Stoltenberg that it supports NATO in extending a membership invitation.

“The June Council is nearing, the EU foreign ministers will convene on June 25-26, and the EU Summit is on June 28. These dates are of great importance for the European perspectives of our country and they depend on the agreement’s ratification. To deliver these results, we propose that Parliament should decide to fast-track the bill. The ratification allows the citizens to decide for their future in a referendum this coming fall,” FM Dimitrov said.