In North Macedonia, parliament begins debates on constitutional change to list Bulgarians among state's founding peoples

North Macedonia’s parliament on [18 August] started ten days of debate over a government-drafted proposal to change the constitution. For the bill to pass, it will need the support of two-thirds of all MPs, or 80 out of the 120 legislators. The key change is listing Bulgarians among the state’s founding peoples. Bulgaria insists this is a key precondition for the country to resume EU accession talks, or risk being stalled again by a Bulgarian veto. If the Social Democrat-led majority feels confident in a two-thirds majority, the issue could be put to a vote immediately after the ten days expire. But since the government seems short of at least eight MPs to pass the change, two more options are at play. The speaker could put the session on hold after the debate and set the vote for November, when the scheduled continuation of accession talks with the EU would put additional pressure on the opposition, led by the right-wing VMRO DPMNE party, to budge. Alternatively, the vote might take place when the government and opposition possibly agree on a date for early general elections, which the opposition has been insisting on for the past year.
Read the full article here: Balkan Insight