Albanian opposition in Macedonia warns amendments to Constitution

After the referendum passes, we will come up with specific amendments under the signed declaration of all Albanian political parties and in the spirit of the Ohrid Agreement to make some constitutional changes. Here the Constitution opens and we as Albanians are needed and I believe all parties that signed the January 2017 declaration will stand by the word and change the Constitution so that Albanians can feel this state as their own. The Albanian language is an official language, as stands in the declaration of Albanian political parties but was also part of the Ohrid Agreement, but also in preambles, or state, to be the state of all citizens or Macedonians, Albanians and other ethnicities, said Arben Taravari, the Alliance for Albanians.

But for the ruling Albanian parties, the changes expected to take place in the Constitution arematic, strictly on the name. From the Africa Gashi Movement, they say they would not insist on anything that would impede the integration process.

The constitutional changes that will follow the referendum are thematic constitutional changes and are made in order to integrate the country into NATO and the European Union, but the possibility of government partners discussing any other freshness of the Constitution. However, I would like to point out that we would not want with anything to prevent the country's Euro-Atlantic agenda as a great need both for the state but also for the citizens of Macedonia Orhan Murtezani, the Besa Movement, said.

For DUI, the normative aspect of the Ohrid Agreement is rounded up with the publication of the law on the use of languages in the Official Gazette. According to Ahmeti's party, in the Constitution Albanians have achieved equality in the state and only work remains in adequate representation in institutions, equal economic development, rule of law, etc.

The constitution must be opened to make changes regarding ratification of the agreement, and the referendum will only refer to the agreement between Macedonia and Greece on the name issue. As far as other issues about equality are concerned, we appreciate that with the conclusion of the rating of the Ohrid Peace Agreement and implementation of the law on the use of languages which has been adopted and published in the Official Journal along with the name issue agreement, Albanians meet their needs about the use of Albanian in an official and equal manner in all state institutions and bodies in Macedonia, and, as I said earlier, the Constitution can only open up on issues subject to the referendum, Artan Grubi, DUI.

In the Declaration of Albanian political parties, the particular point is “The achievement of full equality in line with the Ohrid Agreement and the Constitution” where they were targeted:

• Perspective implementation of the multi-ethnic principle in the Constitution, where Albanians are known as a state-form population.
• Reaching complete linguistic equality. The Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia should determine that the Macedonian language with the Cyrillic alphabet and the Albanian language with its alphabet are official languages in Macedonia.
• Overarching duties on the flag, anthem, state coating, so that state symbols reflect social diversity and ethnic equality.
• Whether the Albanian ruling parties will support the Albanian opposition's eventual initiatives is unknown, but in the declaration all signatory parties have pledged support for any legal and constitutional initiative that reinforces ethnic equality for the Albanian population.