Xhaferi: Procedure on amending Constitution to start in first months of next year at latest
Skopje, 23 November 2022 (MIA) – The procedure for amending the Constitution should start in the first months of next year at the latest in order to observe the procedure and the period for introducing constitutional amendments. This procedure should be completed by the end of the screening, which is due in November 2023, said Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi.
As regards what will the constitutional amendments involve and whether only Bulgarians and/or members of other ethnic communities will be included in the Constitution, Xhaferi said it will depend on the content of the decision on amending the Constitution that should be submitted to the Parliament. At the leaders’ meeting and to date, only views were presented on other issues that could be the basis for other constitutional amendments. Xhaferi reiterated that it all depends on the contents of the decision on starting the procedure for amending the Constitution.
The Parliament’s Finance and Budget Committee started on Wednesday a debate on the 2023 draft budget. 263 amendments have been submitted, including 200 from VMRO-DPMNE, 25 from the Alliance for Albanians, 22 from SDSM, 11 from Besa, two from DUI and three from Alternativa. The debate on the draft budget lasts ten days, and the entire procedure on adopting the budget should be completed by mid-December. Until then, Xhaferi said, no other sessions are scheduled, but could be convened if necessary.
The Parliament Speaker expects another meeting by the end of the year within the Jean Monnet process. Documents from the previous meeting have been already sent to parliamentary groups. He said he didn’t expect VMRO-DPMNE to block the process. A draft version of the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure has been prepared and will be sent to all parliamentary groups for alignment.
