The small city of Probistip, population 16.000, is 98.7 percent ethnic Macedonian. According to the 2002 census, the remaining 150 people living in the city include 89 Serbs, 37 Vlachs, six Turks, 1 Bosniak and no Albanians.

And yet, under the Albanian language law, public institutions in Probistip are required to begin using the Albanian language. A picture of the new sign put on the local labour inspection office uses the name “North Macedonia” and is written in Macedonian, English and Albanian.

The Constitution provides for local use of languages other than the Macedonian which are spoken by at least 20 percent of the population in a given municipality. But the law agreed between Zoran Zaev’s SDSM party and his ethnic Albanian partners makes Macedonia fully bilingual and introduces penalties for public institutions and officials who will not use the Albanian language, even in places where there are virtually no Albanians.