Parliament Speaker Afrim Gashi has stated that SDSM’s resolution concerning red lines on the EU path still hasn’t been submitted to the legislative house.
As he stated during briefing with journalists on Tuesday, since the party’s leader, Venko Filipce, hasn’t done so, the matter cannot be put on the agenda of a plenary session.
The briefing was held after Gashi’s coordination meeting with Parliamentary Group Coordinators following the recess period due to the local elections. The Speaker, regarding that, stated that what was needed was either changes to the Electoral Code or a completely new text.
At the coordination meeting, all participants agreed to discuss in order for the novelties to be adopted by consensus. The goal, either through changes or through a new text, is to overcome all problems registered so far in the election processes, regardless of whether it’s about presidential, parliamentary or local polls.
According to Gashi, the coordination meeting saw no discussions on the Criminal Code issue in relation to the corruption articles matter.
“There’s still no proposal. That depends on the Government”, the Speaker explained.
In August, however, when he scheduled the local elections, Gashi had stated that the, new, draft version of the Code, was on the verge of being submitted to Parliament because that was what the Government and Justice Minister Igor Filkov had announced to him.
Asked about the scheduling of local elections in Gostivar, Mavrovo i Rostuse, Vrapciste, and Centar Zupa, where there will be a re-run process, Gashi explained that the term of the current State Election Commission (SEC) composition expired on 15 January, that is, when the re-run process would need to be held. In that regard, he added that work was underway on a solution.
“According to the law, an SEC member’s term lasts five years, until the election of a new member. With this wording, ‘until the election of a new member’, the term of the current members will be extended until the elections in the four Municipalities end”, he stressed.
Asked about the local self-government law, which hadn’t been adopted before the local elections because there’d been no Badinter majority, the Speaker stressed that a debate would be re-opened.
However, he doesn’t know whether the part reading “this Law will enter into force starting from the next local elections” will be removed.