Skopje, 21 March 2024 (MIA) – The presidential candidate of the European Alliance for Change, Arben Taravari, at a press conference Thursday reaffirmed the bloc’s opposition to any potential coalitions with parties that oppose the constitutional amendments and the removal of the term “20 percent” which refers to the Albanian language in the Constitution.

Taravari said the precondition for the beginning of negotiations for a potential coalition is the country’s European path. He added that VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM have previously said they don’t mind the removal of the term “20 percent” from the Constitution.

“Sometime in April or March, Mickoski had an interview for Koha where he said he doesn’t mind this, Zaev said the same when the Prespa Agreement happened, Kovachevski and Pendarovski too. I think this is something that already existed in the past in Macedonia, it is nothing new. With the Constitution of 1974, the official languages in Macedonia were Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, there were no percentages or figures. If they can find a single constitution in the world where the use of the language of any ethnic community is outlined with percentages or figures, we will remove this request,” said Taravari.

Asked if the bloc would accept a coalition with VMRO-DPMNE, which has opposed the inclusion of the Bulgarians within the Constitution, Taravari said the party would not begin negotiations with “someone who isn’t ready to continue Macedonia’s European path”.

“This is a precondition, not a condition. I am not saying it should be done immediately, in 10 days, but we have to have a certain timeframe and guarantees from the international factor that this will happen, it doesn’t matter who it is, whether VMRO-DPMNE or SDSM. This is the position of all political parties of the Albanians. We have a gentlemen's agreement that we would never be a part of any government that wouldn’t accept the continuation of Macedonia’s European path, because we have no alternative. We don’t want to see a repeat of Bucharest 2008 and waste 10 more years – this isn’t good for the Macedonians, nor the Albanians, nor the Turks who live in this country,” Taravari said.

Photo: MIA