The opposition DPMNE submitted amendments to the Law on the Use of Languages, but the same amendments ended up in the trash after SDSM and DUI officials instructed their secretaries to dump them outside.
The amendments, as announced by the party, are aimed at harmonizing the law with the Constitution of the state.
The deadline for submitting the amendments expired at 4 pm, and immediately after the amendments were found in the thrash.
Grce Gjorgjievski, member of the DPMNE’s EC at today’s press conference noted that the submitted amendments were submitted for two articles of the Law, which, as he said, are in direct contradiction with the Constitution.
Citizens, experts and all social actors have repeatedly warned that the law on bilingualism that SDSM wants to force on the country is unconstitutional and harmful to the state. The inconsistency of the law was confirmed by the president of the state. We appeal to SDSM to withdraw this unconstitutional law. The SDSM needs to get informed and not to let this law become an integrative element, something that will further divide and disturb us, said Gjorgjievski.
– The law on bilingualism that SDSM is pushing violently is in complete opposition to the Constitution of the state and the Framework Agreement. VMRO-DPMNE will submit amendments to the Parliament in order to harmonize the law with the Constitution of the country, Gjorgjievski said and added:
“I will explain to you two articles of this law that are in direct contradiction with the Constitution. Members for whom VMRO-DPMNE submitted amendments.
Primarily, Article 6 of the Law states that institutions such as: the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, the President of the Republic of Macedonia, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, the judiciary, the public prosecutor’s office, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Macedonia, the Ombudsman of the Republic of Macedonia, the institutions in the electoral process, science, health, culture, application of police authorizations, broadcasting activity, notary, execution, infrastructure objects, registration, personal documents, finances, economy, as well as institutions, other areas are obliged ex officio to ensure that the use, communication, and procedures take place in a language spoken by at least 20% of the citizens in the Republic of Macedonia and its letter if the person or participant speaks the spoken language at least 20% of the citizens in the Republic of Macedonia.
This article is contrary to paragraphs 2.4 and 5 of Amendment 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia. There is an opportunity for any citizen living in a municipality where at least 20% of the citizens speak a language different from Macedonian to use their own language. The institutions respond in Macedonian and in the language used by the citizen. Instead, in the proposal of SDSM, Article 6 stipulates that the institutions shall ensure mandatory use in only one language, in this case Albanian, which is absurd. This directly discriminates against the smaller communities in the Republic of Macedonia.
SOURCE: MINA