The Speaker of the Assembly of North Macedonia, Talat Xhaferi, rejected the initiative of the Macedonian opposition party VMRO-DPMNE to organise a referendum to cancel the agreement with Bulgaria.
Through a communiqué, Xhaferi said that the referendum initiative is “not in accordance with the Constitution.
According to Xhaferi, international agreements that have been ratified are part of the internal legal order and cannot be changed by law.
On September 9, VMRO DPMNE submitted the referendum initiative because the Agreement with Bulgaria is anti-national and anti-state, which endangers Macedonian identity and language.
According to the Constitution of North Macedonia, the parliament can approve the holding of the referendum if 150,000 signatures are collected.
“I hope that there will still be deputies with a national consciousness who will give support to the initiative because at the end of the day, if this initiative is not in order, it goes to a plenary session where the deputies must declare the regularity or non-regularity”, said Nikolla Micevski, deputy of VMRO DPMNE.
The ruling party, SDSM supports the idea of a referendum as it is a good democratic tool. However, MPs argue now is not the time to rock the boat between North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
“The organisation of the referendum is a democratic right, and we, as a plural democracy and a democratic state, are always on the same side, respecting the opportunities and rights that all citizens have, including political parties. But, I think that in times of crisis, in times of difficult economic and energy situation in Europe, the world and our country, these are excessive initiatives and retrograde processes, which return the country to some dark, isolating times”. emphasised Martin Kostovski, SDSM deputy.
Before the formal launch of membership talks in the bloc, North Macedonia must amend the Constitution to include the Bulgarian minority in its preamble.
The amendment of the Macedonian Constitution is done with two-thirds of the votes, which the parliamentary majority does not have.
