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Southeast Europe
March 23, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
testers urged Ivanov to keep its promise and not to sign the bill into law.
Meanwhile, police officers are still protecting homes of MPs from the governing SDSM after the adoption of the language law was followed by threats and protests in front of their homes. MPs from the SDSM have been called traitors.
On the night of March 17, a small protest organ- ised by VMRO-DPMNE supporters was held in front of the house of SDSM MP Dalibor Bogda- novski in the municipality of Sopiste, and in front of the home of MP Dime Velkovski in Skopje.
Hopes start to fade
Macedonia only recovered from a major and long- lasting political crisis in mid-2017. This resulted in the SDSM coming to power in coalition with the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) after a decade of rule by VMRO-DPMNE. Adoption of the language law was one of the conditions for the DUI and other ethnic Albanian parties to support Zaev’s government.
After coming to power, the new government warmed ties with its neighbours and pledged reforms aimed at bringing the country closer to EU and Nato membership.
Now, however, the optimism about the country’s EU prospects are fading away in view of the new political landscape. Macedonia is not only heading for a constitutional crisis, but the discontent with the language law could also push the country into another political crisis.
VMRO-DPMNE is not the only critic of the language law, as many within Macedonia have questioned the procedure by which it was adopted. Experts also say that the country’s highest court should give an opinion on the constitutionality of the law.
Issues concerning the constitution also extend to attempts to resolve the name dispute with Greece. The Greek government is seeking changes to Macedonia's constitution to incorporate the po- tential change of the country’s name, even though the Macedonian government has repeatedly said that there would be no constitutional alternations.
Macedonia and Greece are involved in an intense process of negotiations to find a solution to the long-standing name dispute; Greece objects to the name “Macedonia” as it has province with the same name.
Mickoski also said that regarding the name dispute, VMRO will not accept a solution that will goes against the country’s national interests.
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