Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Osmani, whose threat of return to the civil war period two decades ago pressured Zoran Zaev to reverse his position on the bilingualism law, now condemned the initiative from opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski. The law makes Macedonia a fully bilingual country, in violation of the Constitution which limits the use of minority languages to areas where the ethnic minority constitutes at least 20 percent of the population.

The law deepened the political crisis in Macedonia, after the Venice Commission found serious objections with the way it was adopted, its constitutionality and the chaos it will cause in the Macedonian judiciary. The outgoing Prime Minister Zaev initially said he will respect the decision of the Venice Commission, but after Osmani’s thinly veiled threat of war, he backed down.

After Osmani’s warning, Zaev changed his position on the bilingualism law

VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski, on the other hand, said that the opposition party will propose amendments in line with the positions of the Venice Commission. Osmani condemned this proposal as well.

The law on the use of languages should not be an issue for the political parties to score points. It will not help Mickoski, Osmani said in an interview with TV21. He also insisted that his comments referencing 2001 – the year when ethnic Albanian terrorists groups sparked a months long civil war – should not be seen as a threat of war but “condemnation of a period when decisions were made by one political side alone”.

VMRO-DPMNE deputy leader Aleksandar Nikoloski responded to Osmani, reminding him that as Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU affairs, he should know that Macedonia is called upon to follow the decisions of the Venice Commission.

Part of the new methodology for EU enlargement proposed by France is that, as a condition of respect of the rule of law, candidate countries should follow the recommendations of the Venice Commission. This means that Osmani will continue to wait and dream from a date to open EU accession talks for a very long time. Instead of giving advice to VMRO-DPMNE and Mickoski, Osmani should read the recommendations of the Commission and the French non-paper. It would do him good, Nikoloski replied to Osmani.