TIRANA, March 14 – The Macedonian parliament approved on Wednesday by 64 votes the law on language which allows a wider usage of the Albanian language in the country’s local and central executive bodies.
Macedonia’s former Prime Minister Nikolla Gruevski tried to physically prevent the head of parliament Talat Xhaferi from leading the session, which nevertheless went on and approved the law despite citizen protests outside the parliament.
The opposition’s Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (IMRO-DPMNU), which last time refused to take part in the vote, said the law is unconstitutional and threatens its unitary character.
In addition, the IMRO-DPMNU has so far presented over 30,000 amendments to the law that were not taken into consideration, as Albanian parties in Macedonia said those amendments were efforts to completely block the law.
The law was first approved in parliament since January, but the bill was not signed by Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, thus being resent to the Macedonian parliament where it got eventually approved.
Albanian President Ilir Meta welcomed the decision through a Facebook statement, valuing it as an “important historic act not just for Albanians but also for Macedonia’s European future.”
The approval of the language law is viewed as the concluding part of the Ohrid Agreement signed in 2001 to end armed conflict between the government and rebel Albanians asking for more rights in Macedonia.
Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev had made the wider usage of Albanian language in state institutions one of his 2016 campaign promises, as many felt the Ohrid Agreement had not touched upon the language issue in adherence to Albanian expectations.
The law was also the result of the coalition created between Zaev and Albanian parties in the country.
