Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski expressed his readiness for new changes to the Constitution, based on demands from the Albanian parties that followed the controversial census. Albanian demands are that the clause of the Constitution that makes the Albanian a co-official language provided that the Albanians amount to 20 percent of the population is changed. Their request is that in the future, the Constitution flatly declares the Albanian as co-official language, without any statistical requirements.
Kovacevski told the Albanian language TV21 that the change could be made in consultation between all political parties.
The Constitution is amended through a procedure in Parliament. This means that the Parliament should open a discussion which will include experts, he said.
The Prime Minister added that Macedonia already has a very high level of respect for minority rights – “the highest in Europe”. The census put the Albanian share of the total resident population at just under 25 percent, and at 30 percent of all citizens. The count is very controversial, since it greatly undercounted ethnic Macedonians – due to boycotts both at home and in the diaspora.
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