US Ambassador to Macedonia Kate Byrnes intervened today to try and get the two Albanian opposition parties not to block the session of Parliament, which is meant to postpone the census. The Zaev regime initially agreed to pressure from its Albanian coalition partners to hold a “corona census” in April, with mass online registration of the Albanian diaspora and an expected boycott at home, especially among ethnic Macedonians. Under pressure from VMRO-DPMNE, which called for a boycott for public health considerations and warned that the census will portray a skewed picture of the ethnic breakdown in Macedonia, Zaev agreed to postpone it for September and submitted a bill to that effect, but now the Alliance of Albanians and the Alternative parties threaten to filibuster the bill with thousands of amendments.

Ambassador Byrnes spoke with Alliance for Albanians and Alternativa leaders Ziadin Sela and Afrim Gashi today to stress the need for a constructive and engaged opposition. Ambassador Byrnes encouraged both leaders to work collaboratively with others to resolve the pressing challenges facing the country, the US Embassy said in a statement.

 

Initially US diplomat Matthew Palmer pushed VMRO to agree to participate in the work of the Parliament more often, providing Zaev the quorum his slim majority often can’t assemble. Palmer also urged Macedonia to hold a census, but now apparently the US is agreeing with the decision to postpone it for September.

Previously, Skender Rexhepi, coordinator of the AA/Alternative group in Parliament, condemned the proposal to postpone the census saying that it is damaging to Albanian national interests in Macedonia. Rexhepi called on the other Albanian parties, especially DUI which is in coalition with SDSM, to leave the Parliament and prevent the postponement of the census. The two opposition parties also demand a new citizenship law that will allow ethnic Albanians from the region to easily claim Macedonian citizenship and said they will block any piece of legislation by submitting thousands of amendments that will drag out the debate indefinitely until their citizenship bill is accepted.

Field work on the census was supposed to begin today – April 1st is the date set in the law to hold a census and that law is still valid. But the census teams did not begin their work, expecting that the process will be postponed as agreed by VMRO leader Hristijan Mickoski and Zaev.