7 hours agoVMRO says language bill favours Albanians only
Periskopi(9 years ago)
(9 years ago)Wednesday's decision by Macedonia's parliament to approve in the first vote (in Macedonia laws are voted twice) on the draft language use law, has created the impression that the Ohrid Agreement is being closed after so many years. MPs from the parliamentary majority who belong to the Social Democratic League, the Democratic Union of Integration and the Alliance for [...]
MPs from the parliamentary majority who belong to the Social Democratic League, the Democratic Union for Integration and the Alliance for Albanians with the National Democratic Renaissance, but also the deputies of the Belgrade Movement and an MP of the Albanian Democratic Party, raised the number to 66 lawmakers who voted in favour of the law, while 41 opposition deputies from VMRO- The DPMNE voted against it.
The latter have warned a large number of amendments to the second phase of debate on the law.
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VMRO estimates that by this law only one ethnic community is advanced, Albanians respectively, but not other minorities such as Turks, Roma, Serbs, Vlachs, etc. The party also thinks the Albanian language forces administrations even in municipalities where no Albanian living in the country's east, creating conditions, unnecessary according to the party, for its use and implementation; while the party insists on determining the degree of official use of Albanian at certain levels, but not formalisation of it throughout the country.
On the other hand, the ruling DUI calls it the second official language Albanian across Macedonia, but field experts estimate it is about advancing its use and not formalisation, or second official language in the country.
The Parliamentary Commission for European Affairs has set the date 22 November to debate the bill. The debate on this commission lasts three days. Then the proposal goes to the parliamentary legal-lawing Commission and then to the plenary session for the second vote.
The Albanian language with the new law is expected to have a breakthrough in its use in higher state, judicial, public and local bodies. Currently, the speaker of parliament, being Albanian, has no right that the hearings lead in his native language.
Albanians, according to official statistics, make up 25 per cent of Macedonia's population. The Ohrid Agreement that resulted after an armed conflict between Albanian rebels and Macedonian government forces in 2001 included within itself a series of laws establishing the position of Albanians in the country, but the Albanian language had long remained with a reduced status, prompting widespread dissatisfaction with the Albanian population in Macedonia.
New Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has made promises since the December elections campaign, 2016 that he would commit to expanding the use of Albanian in the country. / VoA
