Parliament Speaker Xhaferi skips item on law on languages

Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi skipped the item on the law on the use of languages which was supposed to resume Wednesday’s 32nd session. Instead, MPs voted for other items of the agenda.

Earlier, VMRO-DPMNE MP Ilija Dimovski said the languages law shouldn’t be debated and the session should be cancelled. According to him, the 35,000+ amendments, submitted by the opposition party VMRO-DPMNE, should be considered by the Parliament’s Committee on Mandatory-Immunity Issues.

“The head of the state has pointed out to the Parliament that the bill being reconsidered is unconstitutional in 19 Articles. The VMRO-DPMNE lawmakers have filed amendments solely to these 19 articles noted by the Macedonian President as unconstitutional,” said Dimovski.

According to him, several violations have been detected in the process of adopting the bill, namely it being designed as an EU integration reform, lack of public debate, etc.

The session, which is due to continue after a break, was preceded by coordination meetings of the MPs. Party leaders were also in attendance, namely SDSM’s Zoran Zaev, VMRO-DPMNE’s Hristijan Mickoski, and DUI’s Ali Ahmeti.

In January, President Gjorge Ivanov did not sign the bill and returned the law to the Parliament, incorporating series of remarks, based on which VMRO-DPMNE filed the amendments.