Skopje, 22 October 2024 (MIA) -- SDSM announced Tuesday they will take steps to push through the Macedonian defenders law submitted by SDSM Member of Parliament and former Minister of Defense Slavjanka Petrovska. The party is not giving up on the bill, SDSM MP Jovanka Trenchevska told a press conference Tuesday. 

"We had a coordination meeting of our parliamentary group yesterday to talk about our next steps regarding the Defenders Law," Trenchevska said.

"We will publicly share all details on our next move regarding the law soon. We are not giving up on the adoption of the Defenders Law," she said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the political party Levica said they had filed a criminal complaint against Parliament Speaker Afrim Gashi over his alleged abuse of office regarding the draft-law on Macedonian defenders. Levica PM Sashko Janchev told a press conference that Gashi had violated his duty in not convening a committee session to discuss the bill.

"The law has been stuck in parliamentary procedure ever since the relevant committee chair decided not to convene a session and, this way, block the law," Janchev said, adding that it was Gashi's duty to unblock the procedure by convening the session himself and appointing a new session chair, in line with the parliamentary Rules of Procedure.

However, Gashi told reporters on Sept. 16 he had no intention of unblocking the defenders bill or convening a session about it -- and he has not, to this day, the Levica MP said. According to him, the parliamentary speaker saying he had no right to intervene and appoint another session chair since the committee chair had previously convened a session in line with legal provisions, was Gashi's "extensive interpretation, aimed at never placing the defenders law on the agenda."

"The Rules of Procedure clearly say: If a committee chair does not convene a session on a given law, the parliament speaker needs to appoint another session chair within 24 hours," he said.

The defenders law proposal was submitted by SDSM lawmaker and former defense minister Slavjanka Petrovska. The bill received the support of lawmakers for a fast-track parliamentary procedure.

When parliamentary Social Policy, Demographics, and Youth Committee chair Ilire Dauti did not put the bill on the agenda at a committee session, Parliament Speaker Gashi said Dauti had convened the session regardless and he had no official powers to appoint a new session chair.

"Article 126 of the Rules of Procedure does not say, 'If the committee chair refuses to put a specific law on the agenda" but "if the committee chair does not convene a session'," Gashi said in a Kanal 5 TV appearance on Sept. 16. Given that Ilire Dauti had convened a session on the law, Gashi said, the Rules of Procedure prevented him from appointing another lawmaker to chair the session. mr/