Yesterday, the working group for constitutional amendments started its work, holding its constitutive session. The working group has 23 members, ten of whom are experts, ten are proposals of political parties and three are members from institutions.
Margarita Tsatsa Nikolovska, a former judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, was elected as its president, and Bajram Polozhani, a former judge at the Constitutional Court and professor of constitutional law, was elected as its vice president.
The group includes Cvetanka Ivanova from SDSM, Arbr Ademi from DUI, Remzi Mehmedi from the Alliance of Albanians, Sonja Mirakovska from NSDP, Nano Ruzhin from LDP, Hrista Najdanov from DoM, Temelko Risteski from the Party of Pensioners, Rametula Kuqi from DPA, Eran Kurtis from the Movement Party of Turks and Beycan Ilyas from the Democratic Party of Turks.
President Stevo Pendarovski believes that the group will not have much work.
- The working group, which should prepare the specific texts for amendments to the constitution of the Republic of Macedonia and should hold its first meeting today, will not have much work, because the obligation that the country undertook to include the Bulgarians in the basic law is clear, he said yesterday Pendarovski.
Asked about his expectations for the work of the working group established by the Ministry of Justice, which includes experts and representatives of political parties, except for the opposition, Pendarovski commented that there is also his representative in the working group, which shows what his opinion is.
- I am participating through my representative and with this I clearly state my political position that I am in favor of these constitutional amendments, I do not think that they are something terrible for us and I do not think that if we include the Bulgarians in the Constitution, together with the other six or seven parts of the nations , the state will fail. There are no hidden goals in this and we should not be afraid that something different can be done than what is already written in the preamble and in the normative part of the constitution for all other ethnic communities, said Pendarovski.
The Prime Minister, Dimitar Kovacevski, was also asked about the transparency of the work in the working group.
- The government created a working group in the Ministry of Justice, which should prepare the text of the proposed changes. Today they start work, a chairman will be chosen and they will determine the way of functioning. I don't know if you expect there to be cameras while they are talking, Kovacevski said.
The proposer of the constitutional amendments is the Government, which tasked the Ministry of Justice to establish the working group. The task of the working group will be to prepare the proposal-initiative on the need for constitutional amendments. After drafting the proposal, it will be submitted to the Government, which will have to submit the initiative to the Assembly. The proposal will pass all working bodies within the Assembly.
