Skopje, 19 April 2023 (MIA) - VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski reiterated on Wednesday that the party will not take part in the working group nor will it submit proposals over amendments to the Constitution, noting that no constitutional changes will pass in this Parliament. He called on Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski to put constitutional amendments for adoption if he believes there is support in Parliament, but hold snap parliamentary elections if it proves otherwise.  

"Don't know why they are waiting, wasn't it supposed to be in September last year, October, before they changed their mind for December, then they said February, then not February but May... So, why don't they sit down and submit it, and we close the matter once and for all. There will be no constitutional amendments in this parliamentary composition, and Kovachevski also knows this," Mickoski told reporters on Wednesday.  

He added that to him and to VMRO-DPMNE the working group is a closed matter, calling for the constitutional amendments issue to be submitted to Parliament to see whether there will be a practical majority for the need to open the Constitution or not.  

"Let's not burden the public because we really have many essential topics that we need to talk about, namely crime, corruption, the poor economic situation, the problems that the citizens of Macedonia are facing," Mickoski said.

He called on PM Kovachevski to submit the motion to the Parliament and not to wait because nothing will neither change in the following months.

"I call on him to submit it to the Parliament, and if there are 80 MPs, I leave politics and he continues to be the PM, but if there are not 80 MPs, then we need to hold elections," the opposition leader added. 

Asked whether VMRO-DPMNE is ready in such a situation to accept changing the national coat of arms in order to complete the process of the constitutional amendments, Mickoski said that those are two different processes, and they do not coincide with one another, noting that a consensus has been reached on changing the coat of arms, so it can be started immediately within the parliament.

Mickoski called on all leaders to immediately take initiatives, noting that a new coat of arms would make a good moment to ensure unity in the country, but reiterating that the two processes are not related in any way.  

Photo: MIA