Macedonia’s Parliament Backs ‘Name’ Agreement with Greece
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| Macedonia’s parliament. Photo: EPA/GEORGI LICOVSKI |
With 80 votes in favour and 39 against, Macedonia’s MPs backed a government motion late on Friday night to start the procedure to change the constitution and allow the country’s name to become the Republic of North Macedonia – as required under the deal reach with Greece this summer.
Out of 48 MPs from the opposition VMRO DPMNE-led coalition, eight voted in favour, which was the crucial number for the ruling majority to achieve the required two-thirds majority.
The voting took place after a day of inter-party deliberations conducted behind closed doors and marked by high tensions and uncertainty.
| International Calls in Support of the ‘Name’ Agreement | |
| VMRO DPMNE was under strong international pressure to stop opposing the landmark agreement with Greece that would see the country adopt a new name, Republic of North Macedonia.
In Belgrade on Friday, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, Matthew Palmer, again urged “the leadership of VMRO DPMNE, which has made clear its opposition to Prespa [the agreement], to free its MPs to vote with their conscience without fear of reprisal.” “Leaders must rise above partisan politics and seize this historic, once in a generation, opportunity that will not come again,” he said. Palmer is due to visit Macedonia on Monday. Previously, Joseph Daul, head of the European People’s Party, EPP, the centre-right bloc in Europe of which VMRO DPMNE is a member, twitted that, “the opposition has a big responsibility for the country’s EU-NATO path and needs to be constructive in the democratic process,” Daul said. |
Previously all legislators withdrew their requests to take part in the debate that had originally been expected to last longer.
The voting was only the first test of whether the ruling parties have secured the required two-thirds majority to get the changes past MPs.
According to parliament’s rulebook, full adoption of the amendments that would change the country’s name to the Republic of North Macedonia may take three months, or longer.
With two-thirds of MPs backing the motion, the government can now start preparing the actual draft constitutional amendments and submit them to a repeat vote, which this time will require only a simple majority.
If MPs pass the draft amendments, they will have to be sent also for a public debate after which parliament will have to vote for the third and final time. The third vote will again require a two-thirds majority.
As things stand, even now, the government has no guarantees that the final vote would again muster the required support from enough MPs.
An informal deadline to implementat the deal comes in March next year, in order for the Greek parliament to be able to ratify the agreement before Greece goes to general elections, in which political forces opposed to the agreement have a real chance of winning.
Read more:
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Macedonia Races Against Time for Name Change
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