Members of the Macedonian Parliament voted today to re-approve several laws which President Gjorge Ivanov refused to sign because they were adopted under the name “Republic of North Macedonia”.

The laws include the one on the creation of the new wiretapping agency OTA. According to the Constitution, the President should sign the laws once they’ve been adopted by the Parliament for a second time, but Ivanov has already refused to do so in the case of the clearly unconstitutional law on the use of the Albanian language. The ruling SDSM – DUI majority, in response, published this law with the signature of Speaker Talat Xhaferi, a practice already deemed unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court. The constitutional amendments to rename the country, which were adopted by a two thirds majority following widespread blackmail and threats aimed at members of Parliament, was also published with Xhaferi’s signature.

It is expected that the latest series of laws will be published in the same way.