SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
The session for the constitutional changes was postponed for Friday. A deal between the government and Bilall Kasami’s BESA on the nationality issue wasn’t reached. BESA isn’t giving up on its demand for removal of the word “Macedonians” for those that aren’t ethnic Macedonians. Though PM Zoran Zaev said “Macedonian/ citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia” had to remain, he added an additional creative solution could be found for ethnic communities. BESA’s insistence is changing the stand of the eight MPs from the independent group of VMRO-DPMNE. They will not support the amendments if Kasami’s demands are accepted. On the other hand, MP Rubin Zemon, considers that BESA’s demand doesn’t endanger the Macedonian identity. Zaev confirmed that 80 votes weren’t a certainty. However, he still believes that the number will be reached by the time the vote. If there is no two-thirds majority, the PM is ready to be held accountable. VMRO-DPMNE wasn’t present in the hall. Its MPs joined the protest outside Parliament. The leader of the opposition party, Hristijan Mickoski, said Zaev was the only one to blame for the name change. According to him, the PM is blackmailing MPs. The other participants in the protest criticised Zaev, too. “We don’t want the name to be changed. We urge the ruling coalition to resign,” a protester said.
