Albanian opposition parties demand a meeting with DUI party leader Ali Ahmeti, to coordinate on the proposed constitutional amendments.

Macedonia is under pressure to amend the Constitution and include the Bulgarians in its preamble. But the Albanian parties, who otherwise strongly support the change, said that they want a new concession to be made to their own national cause. The request is that Macedonia amends a clause from the 2001 peace settlement which instituted the Albanian language as official, but naming it only as a language spoken by at least 20 percent of the population.

Albanian opposition parties want the article changed and the Albanian language named explicitly, which would make Macedonia a fully bilingual country, and they want the change done along with the inclusion of the Bulgarians in the preamble. But Ahmeti caused outrage in the Albanian camp by saying that he is no hurry to make this amendment.

Tetovo Mayor Bilal Kasami from the BESA party said that he wants a meeting of all Albanian party leaders with Ahmeti by the end of the week, so that they can coordinate on the issue. It’s likely that Ahmeti has decided that adding this issue to the already extremely divisive concession to Bulgaria could block the process entirely, and Macedonia could find itself again vetoed by Bulgaria. In the meantime, Albanian opposition parties are turning the pressure on.

Our position as BESA is that the 20 percent clause in the constitution is an insult to the Albanians. The latest census showed that we are over 20 percent and from this position we demand that the percentage is removed, said Blerim Sejdiu from BESA.