The thoughts of the Government and the political ones
parties regarding the Constitution
The procedure for changing the Constitution, according to sources from the Government, should start this month or next month at the latest. In such a context of events, the President of the State Stevo Pendarovski got involved, who said these days that "the only way to reach a two-thirds majority is a debate with the opposition". On the subject of dynamization of constitutional amendments, Prime Minister Kovacevski believes that the debate on constitutional amendments must begin, and first at the expert level, because the constitutional amendments should be written first so that the citizens, as well as all stakeholders, can see what they look like. and to be actively involved in the specific stages of the process itself.
- That will be done by experts from the Ministry of Justice, university professors and certainly representatives of political parties. Regarding the inclusion of all political parties, it is normal that they will be included in the process itself, because the process of constitutional amendments takes place in the Parliament in several stages - said Prime Minister Kovacevski.
He also said from Slovenia that when the constitutional amendments, which are part of the obligations in the negotiation framework, are adopted, "the Second Intergovernmental Conference will automatically continue, the opening of clusters, reforms in society and full membership in the EU, for which we have support from all EU member states".
The ruling party said that "with the start of the process in the Parliament, a public discussion will be opened, through working groups, where Mickoski and VMRO-DPMNE can give their proposals. This process must be inclusive, transparent in order to arrive at the best proposals and solutions for changes in the Constitution, in order to continue the European path of our country."
Sources from the Government brief that the academic and business community, civil society organizations, the media will be included in the public discussions, and that experts and professors of constitutional law are expected to sit at a joint table in the coming days, where they will present their views and proposals regarding the constitutional amendments, which should enter the parliamentary procedure in the coming months.
How would the part of the preamble read if it were worded in Croatian
model, such as the proposal of the largest opposition party?
The largest opposition party VMRO-DPMNE said that constitutional amendments could be made and be acceptable, but following the example of the Constitution from Croatia. The party believes that this would be a good solution, and with this model "Macedonia will change its multi-ethnic character to a unitary one and, analogously to that, it will be a state of the Macedonian people and a state to which the national minorities living in it belong."
The preamble of the Macedonian constitution, if the Croatian preamble is taken into account, would read: "The Republic of Macedonia is established as a national state of the Macedonian people and a state of the members of the national minorities: Albanians, Turks, Roma, Vlachs, Bosniaks, etc., who are its citizens, who are guaranteed the same rights as the Macedonian people and the exercise of national rights, in accordance with the democratic norms of the United Nations". With that, according to them, the current preamble, which reads: "The citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, the Macedonian people, part of the Albanian people, the Turkish people, the Wallachian people, the Serbian people, the Roma people, the Bosniak people and others", will undergo a significant change.
The proposal of the opposition caused political alarm in the Albanian
political campus
Undoubtedly, the proposal to amend the Macedonian constitution in the part of the preamble based on the model of the Croatian constitution caused an avalanche of negative reactions in the Albanian political bloc. They not only announced that they reject the proposal, but also come forward with their own proposals for amending the Constitution. In the following, we list the reactions of three Albanian parties.
– The solution offered by this political entity regarding the preamble is absolute ignorance of reality or deliberate deviation for electoral effects. The time of dominance of one ethnic group in North Macedonia has ended once and for all and there is no going back to such a time. Macedonians are 54 percent, and Albanians 30 percent, and together they do not make up the percentage of Croats in Croatia, which is over 90 percent. The placement of the Albanians in their proposal as a national minority once again shows that their mentality has been brought back decades and that is regrettable - say the Alliance for Albanians party.
For the Alternative party, the proposal for changes to the Constitution based on the Croatian model is unacceptable. The Alternative party put forward its proposals on how to define the state in the preamble.
- Considering that Macedonia has a larger majority - ethnic Macedonians 54 percent, a second majority - Albanians 30 percent and a group of minorities 6-7 percent, our proposal would be to define North Macedonia as "the state of the Macedonian nation, the Albanian nation and other ethnic communities". In order to be creative on this topic, Alternativa has another proposal - that is to define North Macedonia in its preamble as "the state of its citizens", removing all ethnic attributes from the building of the state. Which model should we accept as a country, that should be part of the debate and political consensus - say Alternative.
The Besa movement, on the other hand, based on the provisions of Article 130 of the Constitution of Macedonia, recently asked the Government, during the compilation of the draft version of the constitutional amendments, which will be sent for discussion to the Parliament, to make changes to the fifth amendment. Besa requests that with the opening of the highest legal act, in addition to the inclusion of Bulgarians, the use of the Albanian language as the official language of the entire country should also be included in the preamble. They were told by the Ministry of Justice that all requests will be considered, but the ruling SDSM decided that it is not the moment to burden the process with requests to delete 20 percent of the Albanian language, at a time when the priority should be EU membership.
Positions of other minor parties
Pavle Trajanov, president of the Democratic Union, has a positive opinion about the proposal.
- The proposal of VMRO-DPMNE for the Croatian model of the constitution as a template for the amendments to the Macedonian constitution is completely legitimate. Especially since previously the leaders of DUI, including the prime minister and government ministers, convinced the Macedonians to accept the condition for constitutional changes from the French proposal, pointing to the French model. Now, after VMRO-DPMNE has declared that they accept the proposal, even initiating it themselves, those who previously convinced are now somewhat restrained. Perhaps this initiative is a kind of test of what those who previously proposed the Croatian constitution as a model for our constitutional amendments, or used it only as a form of pressure for a process for which there is no citizen support, really mean by constitutional amendments - says Trajanov.
For the Socialist Party of Macedonia, it is acceptable for the preamble of the Croatian Constitution to be applied in the amendments to the Constitution. The party maintains its previous position, insisting on "constitutional amendments with reciprocity in the Bulgarian constitution", while they expect the Macedonian minority to be mentioned in the Bulgarian constitution.
VMRO-people's party, including in the discussion about constitutional changes, said that for them it is acceptable to change the preamble according to the model of the Constitution of the historical VMRO. The party declares that "if the Bulgarians did not bother the historical VMRO, then there is no need to fear them today".
- VMRO-people's party believes that the special responsibility for a positive attitude towards these constitutional changes is precisely the parties that bear the sign or the name "VMRO", the party announced.
Solza Grcheva, president of Voice for Macedonia, has her own view.
- What is acceptable in the proposal for constitutional amendments according to the model of the Croatian constitution is, first of all, that with it we would get closer to the concept of a civil constitution according to which all would be Macedonians of a certain ethnic origin. Until now, unfortunately, we have not succeeded in building a Macedonian nation from the citizens of Macedonia. But it is much more important with this concept to get away from the clutches of a binational state, where the Albanian parties are pushing us with the demands to delete the wording "the language spoken by 20 percent" with "Albanian language", which is an introduction to federalization. If this idea of the Croatian model goes in the direction of the civil concept of the Constitution, then it is acceptable - says Grcheva.
We also asked for an opinion from Ivan Stoilkovic, president of the Democratic Party of the Serbs in Macedonia.
– The model of the preamble of the Croatian constitution is, for several reasons, acceptable as a variant for the changes required by the EU for the Macedonian constitution. The Republic of Croatia is a member state of the EU and it is a model of the European constitution, which has been pointed out by several European representatives and officials from Brussels. We need more such initiatives and to develop a broader social debate, which may make political actors to declare publicly on certain issues, to see the real commitments of the Albanian parties in Macedonia, which are in the direction of political federalization hidden behind the narratives for the EU and NATO - says Stoilkovic.
Adnan Cahil, a long-time political representative of the Turks in Macedonia, also has a positive opinion about this proposal.
- If with this proposal it is achieved that all the citizens of Macedonia are Macedonians, and that ethnic rights are resolved internally, with legal and by-laws, then it is a completely acceptable starting point for the process that we are expected to carry out for the inclusion of Bulgarians in the Constitution , as a condition for the continuation of negotiations in the EU - says Cahil.
