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Bujar Osmani says there are no reservations about its inclusion as a separate ethnic community in the constitution, Pendarovski opposes changes to the basic law
The president and the foreign minister of North Macedonia have entered into a dispute in absentia about the constitutional status of Bulgarians in our western neighbor.
From the statements by Stevo Pendarovski and Bujar Osmani, it became clear that the institutions in Skopje do not have a unified position on the question of whether the Bulgarians in the RSM should be included as a separate ethnic community in the preamble to the country’s constitution.
“Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia should feel like absolutely free citizens who can organize in collective communities and have all rights, if they have to be specified in the constitution. We have no reservations on this issue, to be specified. Ethnic community separate in the constitution, if that is important for any country, “Osmani said in an interview with local TV21. However, RSM’s Foreign Minister clarified that he was unaware that the Bulgarian side had received an application to register Bulgarians as an ethnic group.
However, the other, RSM president Stevo Pendarovski, claims the exact opposite. According to him, amendments to the constitution are a sovereign right of the people of the Republic of North Macedonia. He also said that Bulgaria had not submitted any such request.
Pendarovski’s cabinet says the president sees no reason to change the constitution. “Such a thing has not been requested by the Bulgarian side, nor does the president expect this to happen at all, because the adoption and possible amendments to the constitution are our exclusive sovereign right and competence.” “At this point, the president does not see the need for any change in the constitution,” the president’s office told Deutsche Welle.
