For the past two days, the European Front led by the Democratic Union for Integration (BDI) has been staging protests outside the Constitutional Court in Skopje, awaiting a decision on the controversial Law on the Albanian Language.
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| Bujar Osmani first left and other members |
BDI spokesperson Bujar Osmani has voiced strong concerns, accusing the current government of harboring agendas influenced by external actors, specifically Serbia.
“There is a bigger game at play, rooted in the north, in Belgrade. I fear there’s a mission they refer to as vtoro poluvreme (the second half), aimed at retaliating against the Ohrid Agreement and dismantling it within the first 100 days,” Osmani stated.
Osmani also accused Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski’s administration of embodying the hallmarks of a “captured state.”
“The elements of a captured state are evident everywhere. We see the return of a captured state in every front. The Prime Minister is acting as prosecutor and head of the Constitutional Court, while state instruments are misused to exert pressure on political activism. This is what a captured state looks like—it needs no horns,” he added.
As tensions rise, North Macedonia’s political landscape is bracing for further developments. A central meeting of opposition party leadership is scheduled for Monday, and party leaders are expected to join the protests.
Deputy Prime Minister Izet Mexhiti, addressing citizens via social media earlier, assured that the law would not be repealed during Wednesday’s session of the Constitutional Court. The court is set to deliberate on an initiative challenging the validity of the Law on the Albanian Language.
The potential repeal of this legislation, a cornerstone of the Ohrid Agreement that ended the 2001 conflict, has alarmed the Albanian political spectrum. For many, it symbolizes not just a threat to bilingualism but an attack on the fragile coexistence underpinning North Macedonia’s multiethnic democracy.
Observers anticipate that the court’s ruling, regardless of its outcome, will significantly impact the country’s political stability and interethnic relations.