The Government was caught unprepared by VMRO-DPMNE over the proposal to use the Croatian Constitution as basis for the future amendments, says political expert Aleksandar Krzalovski. The Government kept calling on VMRO-DPMNE to use the Croatian model, citing the large number of minorities that are mentioned in its Preamble, but neglected to notice that Croatia is declares as the nation state of the Croats. VMRO-DPMNE now agrees to include the Bulgarian minority in the Constitution, if Macedonia is again declared as the nation state of the Macedonians.

With this the ball is in the Government’s court. SDSM are on the defense and are shocked by the proposal. This just shows the ease with which they make proposals, on this issue and on the name change before, apparently without reading the material, Krzalovski said.

It’s unlikely that the Albanian parties will agree to have their nation relegated a level below the Macedonians in the Preamble, but VMRO now makes a legitimate request, considering that some Albanian members of the Government also cited the Croatian model as an example that should be followed.

They thought nothing of making demands from the Macedonian nation, but now that we have demands from the Albanians, that is a problem and is unacceptable. How come? The VMRO-DPMNE proposal is also a European solutoin to the issue, Krzalovski added.