Will VMRO-DPMNE’s amendments really end up in the dumpster?
Nearly 36,000 amendments to the Law on the use of languages can actually end up in the dumpster, as VMRO-DPMNE accused when they were archived, translated and reproduced. The possibility of sabotaging the VMRO-DPMNE’s “amendment offensive” was announced by DUI MP Artan Grubi as chairman of the Commission for European Affairs, which considers the law on languages because it entered the Parliament with a European flag. Grubi announced that the law on languages will be voted these days, and that the debate on the amendment has been completed, which would mean that parliament will not discuss 35,569 amendments from VMRO-DPMNE. Grubi accused VMRO-DPMNE of selling fake patriotism with the amendments, and pointed out that only the disputed provisions on uniforms, banknotes and securities would be sent to the Venice Commission, but not the entire law, as announced by SDSM. As Grubi said, the coalition agreement with SDSM was not to send the entire law to the Venice Commission.
VMRO-DPMNE did not have a specific position yesterday regarding Grubi’s announcement to skip the amendment debate on the law, which was one of the basic points of the pre-contractual agreement between SDSM and DUI. The new coordinator of the VMRO-DPMNE Parliamentary Group, Dragan Danev, said that it should not be allowed to do so and that the opposition MPs will coordinate further and will take a stand on how they will act if the law really happened to go directly to voting. Danev says that they did not talk to SDSM about the law after the ruling party rejected the request to be withdrawn, and a working group was formed in which all parties would agree on the positions on the issue.
“I hope that SDSM will react and will not allow the law on languages that we consider unconstitutional, to be passed again with a violation of the Rules of schedule and procedures. The amendment debate on the law has not been completed, because, in the third reading, each MP has the right to submit amendments to the articles for which there are remarks from the President of the country,” said Danev.
He reiterated that the parliamentary group of VMRO-DPMNE, which has been in boycotts for several months, will return to parliament only for the law on languages, that is, about the debate over their 35,000 amendments.
The possibility of no amendment to the debate, in fact, was first announced by Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi at a briefing with journalists a few weeks ago. Xhaferi then pointed out that there was a remark that the legal provisions are unconstitutional in all the amendments, and the Assembly is not competent to interpret the constitutionality of the law. VMRO-DPMNE responded that in this way Xhaferi would abolish parliament. At the last briefing Xhaferi said that according to the Law on Parliament, February 11 is the last deadline for the start of the debate on the law on languages, but the session, on whose agenda this regulation was found, was interrupted on January 30th and there has been no continuation since then.
DUI mostly insists on implementation of the law on the use of languages as soon as possible, as one of the basic demands of this party before joining a coalition with SDSM, which in turn provoked protests in parliament that culminated in the events on April 27 of last year. SDSM accepted DUI’s request, which previously participated in the preparation of a similar law while in coalition with VMRO-DPMNE, but it did not reach the voting stage. However, the current government partners are at odds with the procedure for confirming the law on languages: opposite to the DUI, which requires it to go directly to voting, SDSM is committed to following the procedures.
MPs of SDSM, according to the information, believe that among the amendments of VMRO-DPMNE there are also those that are pointless, with the sole purpose of blocking the parliament. However, SDSM is of the view that the Rules of Procedure must be respected. In that direction was the recent statement by Deputy Prime Minister Radmila Sekerinska – that there should be a debate, but not for all amendments.
When VMRO-DPMNE submitted tens of thousands of amendments to the law on languages in the third phase, as opposed to eighteen that it submitted in the second reading, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev pointed out that the opposition’s right to intervene in the law must be respected, but that it should also be aware that the abuse of this right is blocked by the Assembly.
I am concerned what will happen to the reforms and how the laws of the reform process will go. Macedonia is ahead of a positive climate with a possible positive recommendation for the start of the negotiations, and I hope for a date for negotiations by June. If we stall the reforms, we really cannot say that we are moving in this direction. I believe that the opposition will be reasonable within the scope of the Rules of Procedure and that a solution will be found in a conversation between the coordinators and the representatives of both the opposition and the ruling party,” Zaev said.
Aleksandra M. Mitevska