A new round of political tension enters the North Macedoniain view of the meeting of the Constitutional Court of the country, the day after tomorrow Wednesday (11.12.2024) regarding the examination of appeals for the law concerning the expansion of Albanian language.
Against this law, which was passed in 2019 by the previous government, that of Zoran Zaev’s Social Democratic Party and Ali Ahmet’s Albanian DUI party, a total of 12 appeals have been submitted to the Constitutional Court of North Macedonia by Slavic right-wing and nationalist political parties, organizations , other bodies and individual citizens, with which almost all articles of the law are challenged.
The opposition and bigger Albanian party in North Macedonia, the DUI led by Ali Ahmedi started yesterday, Sunday, evening mobilizations, with all-day and all-night rallies “defense”, as he called them of the law, in front of the Constitutional Court building in Skopje, which will last at least until Wednesday.
“We have gathered here to raise our voices on issues that threaten the foundations of the equality of the citizens of our multi-ethnic state. This is no ordinary day, nor an ordinary protest. Today, more than ever, is the time to stand united to protect what we have achieved with so much effort and sacrifice.
On December 11, the Constitutional Court has scheduled a meeting for the examination of the constitutionality of the Law on Languages, which is not only a legal act, but a symbol of the Ohrid Agreement, which is based on the equal relationship of languages in the country.
It is not a question of any law, but a question of our rights as equal citizens, of our ethnic identity and of our future as a society” said last night the high-ranking official of the DUI, Arber Ademi, at the start of the mobilizations of this party for the law governing the use of the Albanian language in North Macedonia. This Albanian party said that, if the Constitutional Court proceeds to cancel the law, then “the consequences in the country will be irreparable”.
“They divide the citizens of the country”
For his part, the country’s prime minister and leader of the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE party Christian Mickoski hinted that, on Wednesday, the Constitutional Court will have a preparatory session only, during which no specific decision will be taken, and accused the DUI for inciting international tensions in the country.
“The DUI has been in power for 20 years and knows very well that on Wednesday (Constitutional Court meeting day) nothing is going to happen. There are procedures, preparatory meetings, etc. All they do is divide the citizens of the country, Albanians and B. Macedonians just to be at the center of publicity… For so many years they looted the public money and now that they are not in power and can no longer steal they are resorting to dangerous actions in order to destabilize the country. I assure the citizens that the security situation in the country is stable and will not be disturbed,” said Christian Mickoski.
At the meeting of the Constitutional Court, on Wednesday, two of the three Albanian judges indicated that they will not attend it. The Constitutional Court consists of nine members.
Objections
There were also objections from the coalition of Albanian parties with the name “Axizia” (VLEN) which participates in the governing coalition of North Macedonia.
One of the vice-presidents of the government, Izet Mejiti, who comes from the Albanian coalition “Axizia”, said that the Constitutional Court is not authorized to make a decision if the judges of Albanian origin are absent. According to Mejiti, the matter, in addition to legal, is also political.
Yet, 250 Albanian intellectuals from North Macedonia, including the chancellors of the three Albanian-speaking state universities in the country, with their open letter they called on the Constitutional Court not to give in to political pressure which aim to repeal the law on the use of the Albanian language.
“From what we have had the opportunity to hear from you, honorable judges, as well as from some high-ranking political figures (such as statements by Prime Minister Mickoski according to which only two or three articles of the law will be repealed), we have every reason to believe that you are becoming part implementation of a politically motivated scenario, instigated by the highest state structures, which aims to encroach on the rights of the Albanian citizens of the country”, it is stated, among others, in this letter of the Albanian intellectuals.
The law on the expansion of the use of the Albanian language in North Macedonia, which was passed in 2019, provides, among other things, that at all levels of central authority and in the wider public, as well as the judicial sector, the official language of the country is “Macedonian ” (as it is mentioned in the country’s Constitution), as well as the language spoken by more than 20% of the country’s states (Albanian language). Based on the last census conducted in North Macedonia in 2021, Albanians make up 24.3% of the country’s population.
According to this law, the central authority must communicate and secure all necessary documents in the Albanian language for a range of administrative, judicial and other matters concerning the Albanian population.
The Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on matters of constitutional law and the rule of law, has also commented on this law, which considered that some aspects of this law, mainly regarding its use in the judicial system of North Macedonia “exceed the European standards set by the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages”.
Tensions over the law on the use of the Albanian language in North Macedonia follow events on November 28, the day of Albania’s declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire and the Albanian flag, when young Albanians in Skopje burned the national flag. of North Macedonia and tension was caused. The next day, Slavic citizens burned the Albanian flag in the town of Prilep and set fire to cars and an Albanian shop in the town of Kumanovo.
Despite the fact that the tension in international relations in North Macedonia has eased in recent years, they remain fragile. In 2001, armed Albanians of the KLA were involved in months-long clashes with the government forces of the then Macedonian government, which almost led to the dismemberment of the country. Those conflicts came to an end in August 2001 with the signing of the Ohrid Peace Accords, which gave the country’s Albanian population rights they had been demanding since the country’s independence in 1991.