Skopje, 26 March 2024 (MIA) — For the ruling parties, the current Parliament's term has been successful. For the opposition, it was "four years down the drain," according to MPs asked to comment on their work ahead of the last plenary session of this Parliament on March 28.

The plenary session has five items on the agenda: amendments to the Law on Execution of Sanctions, amendments to the Law on the Ombudsman, amendments on the Law on the Establishment of a Faculty of Medicine within the Bitola "St. Clement of Ohrid" University as well as two motions related to authentic interpretations of the Law on Spatial and Urban Planning and the Law on Inheritance.

Given that the upcoming elections are regular, Parliament will keep working and can schedule a session in case of any urgent need. Current MPs' terms also happened to take place during a pandemic, and for a while they worked under special conditions.

The DUI parliamentary group coordinator Arbr Ademi said this Parliament's term was successful and adopted important laws. "What happened in this term, had not happened before," Ademi said.

"Normal work has become an exception. This is the opposition's fault, obstructing and violating all procedural provisions for the normal work of Parliament.

"Sessions have not been convened for almost a hundred laws, especially in opposition-led committees.

"This way, it was impossible for MPs to discuss draft laws, let alone decide on them."

He added, however, that his party considered it a successful term. "From DUI's perspective, our main priorities and promises were actualized, starting with the prime minister being from the ranks of DUI, then Corridor 8, all bills that passed in the Parliament, the ninth package of anti-crisis measures to support citizens and companies, the salary increases. We fulfilled our promises," he said.

Ademi also said many important laws had not been considered, including the Law on Restrictive Measures, because the Foreign Affairs Committee did not convene to discuss it or even schedule a session.

The VMRO-DPMNE parliamentary group coordinator Nikola Micevski said the work of this Parliament was "four years down the drain."

He said "unprincipled concessions and agreements were made on a daily basis for the sole purpose of maintaining this power of this ruling majority." 

According to him, "the VMRO-DPMNE parliamentary group showed a firmness and greatness unseen so far."

"Although there was much talk about what could happen, the VMRO-DPMNE parliamentary group and the coalition remained coherent before all challenges and pressures that happened during this term."

"It showed a greatness in democracy and to the Macedonian public that politicians during their term in office can stay in the same place from the start," Micevski said.

He added that this Parliament did not consider motions filed by the opposition about the Laskarci traffic accident and the Tetovo Covid-19 modular hospital fire as well as many other important laws. mr/