Skopje, 30 May 2023 (MIA) - The draft-initiative on constitutional amendments is being reviewed in the Ministry of Justice and will afterwards be translated in Albanian, the Ministry has told MIA.

Once the initiative is completed, it will be sent to the Government, which is set to review and adopt it, and then forward it to the Parliament.

MIA learns that the procedure of adopting the constitutional changes should begin in mid-June.

Last Friday, the working group adopted the draft-initiative over the need for constitutional amendments. The initiative was submitted to the Government, which is then scheduled to forward it to the Parliament.

The amendments relate to the Preamble by adding several peoples. Namely, the Bosniak people is to be followed by the words 'Bulgarian people, Croatian people, Montenegrin people, Slovenian people, Jewish people, Egyptian (Ashkali) people,' said working group chairwoman Margarita Caca Nikolovska after the meeting.

The second change, she added, is in the part of the diaspora and the Amendment 34 that is replaced by Article 49 and Amendment 2. It now adds after the Bosniak people 'Bulgarian people, Croatian people, Montenegrin people, Slovenian people, Jewish people, Egyptian (Ashkali) people.'

The deadline for the constitutional changes is November, i.e. the completion of the European Commission screening. Their adoption would open the path for the second Intergovernmental Conference that will mark the start of the accession negotiations by chapters.