Parliament Speaker Xhaferi Rejects VMRO-DPMNE’s Referendum Initiative

On Tuesday, Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi rejected VMRO-DPMNE’s Referendum Initiative concerning the deal with Bulgaria. As he explains in the answer to the President of the opposition party, Hristijn Mickoski, that the Initiative is not in line with the Constitution, which says international deals that are ratified are part of the internal legal order and cannot be changed by law. VMRO-DPMNE has said that if there are remarks about the text, it is ready to remove them. SDSM Parliamentary Group Coordinator Jovan Mitreski, too, pointed to Article 118 of the Constitution. “After all consultations we had with the Constitutional Court we had, this is counter-constitutional, that is, in contradiction with Article 118,” he said on Tuesday, adding that a Parliament could not terminate one law by another.