• Wednesday, 03 July 2024

Parliament starts debate on draft-negotiating framework report, opposition MPs blow whistles and vuvuzela trumpets

Parliament starts debate on draft-negotiating framework report, opposition MPs blow whistles and vuvuzela trumpets
Skopje, 14 July 2022 (MIA) -The Parliament adopted on Thursday with 68 votes in favour and 38 against the agenda of the 81 session with a single item being the Report over the content of the draft-negotiating framework for the accession negotiations of the Republic of North Macedonia with the European Union, proposed by the French Presidency on 30 June 2022. After the session started and the Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski started his speech to explain the Report, VMRO-DPMNE lawmakers started blowing whistles and vuvuzela trumpets so that the Prime Minister’s speech could not be heard. The lawmakers of the ruling parties applauded PM’s speech, while those from the opposition chanted "traitor." After PM Kovachevski, VMRO-DPMNE MP Ivanka Vasilevska addressed the parliament who said a sensitive issue for Bulgaria is the fact that Athens accepts the existence of the Macedonian language, and they call it a dialect of the Bulgarian language. SDSM MP Snezhana Kalevska Vancheva also spoke, but VMRO-DPMNE MPs again blew whistles and vuvuzela trumpets making loud noise, which prevented her speech to be heard also. Other lawmakers of the ruling and the opposition parties also spoke during today’s discussion. Forty-two MPs are included on a list to speak. The first day of the discussion ended at 6 pm, and the session continues on Friday at 11 am. After adopting the conclusions of the draft-negotiating framework, the Parliament is to send them to the Government.