Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Osmani announced that he will appear before the Venice Commission to defend the controversial law for the use of the Albanian language, which turns Macedonia into a fully bilingual country.

The Commission issued a highly critical opinion of the law, calling it costly and insisting it will complicate the judicary in Macedonia. But given that the Zaev Government relies on ethnic Albanian votes, it continues to support the law which was a major condition for several of Zaev’s Albanian coalition partners to join his Government. Osmani, who comes from the Albanian DUI party, said that he will present the opinion of the Government that “the law is an authentic reflection of the 2001 Ohrid Framework Treaty and of the need to have a European, multi-ethnic and functional state”.

Professor Tanja Karakamiseva, who is the Macedonian member of the Venice Commission, replied that she is also in Venice and waiting for Osmani. She is a strong critic of the law, insisting that it violates the constitutional principles for use of minority languages and undermines Macedonia’s unitary character.