A Parliament Committee will begin discussion today on a new law on identity cards, that would mandate the use of the imposed name “North Macedonia” in these documents. If adopted, the law would also mandate that all identity cards currently in use, with the name Republic of Macedonia, will expire on July 2024.

Greece is ratcheting pressure on the Zaev regime lately and demands more concessions in implementation of the Prespa Treaty, despite the fact that Macedonia remains stuck in its EU accession process, and implementation of the treaty was supposed to be tied to the EU negotiations. 

The law also includes a provision for the creation of a separate set of birth records, for “persons currently not listed in the records”. This is apparently a new attempt by the Zaev regime to allow Albanian residents of Macedonia who do not have citizenship to get access to travel documents, and eventually citizenship. This is a key demand from the opposition Albanian parties, who at times block the work of the Parliament, demanding lax citizenship laws.