President Stevo Pendarovski expressed his perspective during an interview with Telma TV, suggesting that if a two-thirds majority for constitutional amendments is not secured by the end of the year, the responsibility should be shifted to the next government coalition and the newly constituted parliament.

He emphasized his support for the French proposal, noting that it offers a non-disruptive path for Macedonia. Pendarovski stressed his commitment to expeditiously adopting constitutional amendments and indicated his willingness to engage in this process until it reaches its conclusion. However, he acknowledged the challenges of achieving the necessary two-thirds majority, which has eluded consensus for an extended period. Consequently, he proposed putting the matter aside if such an agreement couldn’t be reached by the year’s end. This would enable the future parliament and coalition that emerges victorious in the elections to focus on this issue.

Pendarovski lamented the significant time that has been consumed in discussions about constitutional amendments, even though the lack of a sufficient majority for their passage was evident. He believed that this time could have been better spent addressing internal reforms.

The President expressed doubts about the feasibility of the two political blocs bridging their differences to attain the 80-MP threshold for constitutional amendments, emphasizing that little progress had been made in this regard over the past months and year.

While Pendarovski did not advocate giving up on the matter entirely, he criticized the prolonged emphasis on the issues pertaining to Bulgaria and the inclusion of Bulgarians in the Constitution, characterizing this as time wasted, considering the relatively benign nature of these topics in the broader context of the country’s challenges and priorities