The Government forwarded Tuesday the draft-constitutional amendments to the Parliament, immediately after their adoption at the 171st session.

Skopje, 19 July 2023 (MIA) – The Government forwarded Tuesday the draft-constitutional amendments to the Parliament, immediately after their adoption at the 171st session.

“The Government reviewed the report including the draft-constitutional amendments at the 171st session. The report was adopted and forwarded to the Parliament immediately after the session,” the Government told MIA.

The vote on the need for constitutional revision should take place within 30 days from the draft’s entry into parliamentary procedure.

Last month, Parliament Speaker Talax Xhaferi said the Constitutional Committee would debate the draft for ten days and complete its work eight days before the vote. According to the Parliament’s Rules of Procedures, the plenary session on the need for constitutional amendments can last up to ten days and the decision requires a two-thirds majority.

Afterward, the Parliament sets a timeframe within which the petitioner compiles a text of the draft-constitutional amendments. Two more stages follow, including a public debate. The constitutional revision procedure is set to be completed by the end of November.

Speaker Xhaferi said that lawmakers are in permanent session and can vote on the need for constitutional amendments during the summer break in August.

Changes to the Constitution involve including parts of nations in the Preamble and Articles 49 and 78 of the Constitution, in listing the parts of nations in the country. As regards to the wording: “The citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia, the Macedonian people, as well as citizens living within its borders who are part of the Albanian people, the Turkish people, the Vlach people, the Serbian people, the Romany people, the Bosniak people and others”, a comma is placed after “the Bosniak people” and the following is added: the Bulgarian people, the Croatian people, the Montenegrin people, the Slovenian people, the Jewish people and the Balkan Egyptian people”. Consequently, a change is also made in the Committee on Community Relations regarding the parity of Parliament representatives from all communities listed in the Constitution Preamble.

The Government called for constructive approach and cross-party consensus for adoption of the constitutional changes as part of the Negotiating Framework with the European Union and a condition for continuation of the accession negotiations. It added that citizens and the country have an unrepeatable opportunity to reaffirm the European path, speed up European integration and achieve the European goal by 2030.

Opposition VMRO-DPMNE has said it would not accept the constitutional amendments and urged for early elections.