Afrim Gashi from the Alliance party said that the opposition can’t be left out from the discussion with Bulgaria. He insisted that ethnic Albanians in Macedonia are willing to help Macedonians protect their national identity, language and culture, but need to be involved.

The Government didn’t ask for any help from us, and it leads me to believe that they don’t want our help. We need to come together, look at all options and make decisions together. The Government has 62 votes and the opposition has 58. You can’t keep the opposition outside of this process, Gashi said.

The ruling SDSM and DUI parties rejected the proposal of having a meeting of party leaders on the issue, and also are ignoring or blocking having hearings in the Parliament.