Macedonian parliament

The Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, said it will file amendments to the proposed constitutional changes in a bid to ensure greater use of the Albanian language and national symbols in the country.

The DPA said it would make its case at the start of the parliamentary session on government’s constitutional changes on Tuesday.

The party controls seven MPs in the 123-seat parliament, and its support may prove key for the government package.

It also said that it would seek ‘consensual’ decision-making on all topics in parliament, meaning that Albanian parties must approve any decision before it is adopted.

They also say they will demand that the national budget be divided up on ethnic lines, with Albanians, who make up a quarter of Macedonia’s 2.1 million population, getting a proportional share of funds.

The DPA believes that the ruling VMRO DPMNE party and its ethnic Albanian coalition partner, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, the biggest Albanian political party in Macedonia, are failing to tackle ethnic issues properly.

“From what the government has proposed, it is obvious that the government partners have decided to stay away from inter-ethic issues. We are against this so that is why we will file additional amendments and our support of the entire package will depend on it,” a well-informed DPA member told Balkan Insight under condition of anonymity.

The government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski recently filed a set of eight proposed changes to parliament, which it said would “greatly improve” the country’s constitution.

The most controversial was a change aimed at ruling out same-sex marriage and gay adoption by defining marriage strictly as a union of one man and one woman.

Also proposed is a change to the Court’s Council, a body that appoints judges, removing the Justice Minister as a way of reducing the political influence in courts.

Another change aims to introduce a so-called ‘constitutional complaint’ which people or institutions can file against the authorities.

But in order to pass, the government motion needs the support from two-thirds of MPs. The ruling coalition is close to controlling two-thirds of parliament, but cannot pass the changes alone, so may need the DPA’s votes.

The biggest constitutional changes improving Albanian rights happened after the 2001 armed conflict between ethnic Albanian insurgents and the security forces. Provisions guaranteeing proportional representation of Albanians in the administration, army and the police were agreed after both sides ended hostilities and signed a peace deal.

Albanians also got the right to official use of their flag and language in areas where they make up a considerable part of the population.

Renata Deskovska, a law professor at the Skopje state university and former opposition legislator, argued meanwhile that making constitutional changes at a time when almost the entire opposition is boycotting parliament was problematic.

“We need political and social consensus as well as an expert debate before we launch constitutional changes. These individuals who pose as oppositionists in the parliament have no capacity to give legitimacy to the constitutional changes,” Deskovska said.

After April’s early general and presidential elections, the opposition led by the Social Democrats, SDSM, refused to take up seats in parliament, accusing Gruevski and his VMRO DPMNE party of electoral fraud.

Talks aimed at ending the crisis were launched last month but there have been no new developments since then. The government is rejecting the key opposition demand for a formation of a caretaker government that would stage fresh elections.