Skopje, 1 August 2023 (MIA) - Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi says in an interview with MIA that the constitutional changes are important for the country's future, highlighting that the ruling authorities carry the weight of the process but also that the opposition should take a share of the responsibility for the sake of the future, and not as a solution for the next elections.

"The session on the constitutional changes will open on August 18 and the agenda is adopted by one-third of 61 attending MPs. A discussion will open and I cannot predict how it is going to develop. Nevertheless, it is my obligation to plan maximum ten working days for the discussion. On the tenth day, the discussion ends regardless of the number of remaining speakers," explains Xhaferi.

According to calculations, August 31 is the final day but Xhaferi says that if a two-thirds majority is not reached, the vote can be postponed or not even take place, thus ending the procedure.

"There is such an option and this practice has been witnessed throughout this term in Parliament, when votes were postponed due to quorum calculations by lawmakers," says Xhaferi.

He says there is no strict procedure regarding the deadline for the vote in the first stage, i.e. the need for constitutional changes, considering that the entire process includes several stages that must be completed by the end of November, in order to open the path for the second Intergovernmental Conference.

Going back to the experience in 2008, when the country was set to join NATO, the Speaker says "we don't have to repeat the same mistakes", adding that many decisions have been made that had been disputed at the time of their adoption.

"We are heading for the Ilinden observance. Do you think that the decision for the Ilinden Uprising was unanimous? No. But here we are, 120 years later, having a state that came about from that risk but also the virtue of the revolutionaries, who thought about the future not their own status. Therefore, the sooner we come to our senses the better, thinking about the future and the generations to come, giving them an open path along which they will develop and move forward. What would have been our position if we had failed to join NATO?," says Xhaferi.

Elizabeta Veljanovska Najdevska

Photo: Darko Popov

Video and editing: Srgjan Krstikj and Andrej Brankovikj