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The Law on the use of Languages, which advances the official use of Albanian language in Macedonia, will be strengthened along with the agreement with Greece on resolving the name dispute.
This agreement, according to Speaker of the Parliament, Talat Xhaferi, but also of Government officials, is expected to be approved at the session scheduled on January 9, and then along with the Law on Languages will be sent for publication in the Official Gazette. The speaker Talat Xhaferi, asked to comment the president's refusal, Gjorge Ivanov to enact the Law on Language but also the first phase of the Agreement with Greece, said that no one could stop the empowerment of these legal acts."I do not need to deal with someone when it comes to the constitutional powers of the institutions. President Ivanov was obliged to do so, but he did not, so I consider this an absorbed issue. I think no one has the right to hinder the will of the deputies and this will happen," said Xhaferi.
Parliament Speaker Xhaferi expressed his conviction that the constitutional amendments will be voted in the foreseen deadline, possibly even earlier than January 15, as he does not expect debate by the deputies, even because the opposition VMRO has announced that will not participate in the hearing, considering fake all the debate because of the rejection of its objections about the name agreement, considered as "capitulative for the country".
But from the Albanian opposition, which had previously been remarks on the status of the Albanian language, they say that they have already drafted amendments aimed at advancing the Albanian language, ie its equality with the Macedonian language.
"In the entire territory of the Republic of Macedonia, another official language other than the Macedonian language is the Albanian language and its script is Latin. So we demand a change only in paragraph 2 of Amendment 5 of the Constitution," said Fadil Zendeli, a member of the Besa Movement, a party that operates in two parts, in the Government and Opposition.
The law on the use of languages was adopted on March 14 and three days later the President Ivanov had announced that he refused its decree. The law was again adopted on March 19, but the president again refused to sign it, even though the Constitution forced him to decree after the second transition to the Assembly.
The presieden Ivanov has evaluated the Law on the Use of Languages as "unconstitutional, anti-ethnic and incitement to interethnic tensions".
The law, meanwhile, remained sidelined due to political circumstances.
The official use of the Albanian language is formulated as "a language spoken by over 20 percent of the total population in Macedonia".
Article 7 of the Constitution of Macedonia, where is spoken of the language spoken by 20 per cent of the population of Macedonia.
The law enhances the official use of Albanian, both spoken and written, in all institutions at the local and central level.