The European Front Coalition announces the 'Language Guard' initiative in North Macedonia

The European Front coalition, led by the opposition Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), announced on December 8 the launch of the “Language Guard” initiative, an action that, according to the organizers, aims to stop “political tendencies that undermine the Constitution and the Ohrid Agreement.”

This coalition declared that they will remain before the Constitutional Court in Skopje until the review of the Law on Languages, a law that is at the center of ongoing debates.

The Constitutional Court is expected to review the much-discussed Law on Languages ​​during a session on December 11th.

"This law is not just a legal act. It is a symbol of the Ohrid Agreement, an agreement that ended the dark period of marginalization, exclusion and discrimination, which led to the 2001 war, and paved the way for peace, stability and coexistence. Any attempt to repeal this law is an attack on our historical achievements and a blow to interethnic coexistence," said MP Arbër Ademi on Sunday, in a press appearance before the Constitutional Court.

Ademi also commented on the statements of Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski. He called on Mickoski to abandon the platform "Your Macedonia Again", which was used during the last parliamentary elections by his party, VMRO-DPMNE.

"A prime minister who is at the head of the executive branch should belong to all citizens, and not to one ethnicity," Ademi added.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Mickoski, earlier in the day, said that on Wednesday (December 11), “nothing will happen.” He accused the DUI of creating interethnic tensions.

"We have a situation where no one can interfere in the Constitutional Court... The only topic through which the DUI is present in the public is the creation of divisions on ethnic grounds. They only address ethnic issues, as they cannot impose other topics or attract people to support them," Mickoski said during a press conference on Sunday at the Government.

Meanwhile, First Deputy Prime Minister, Izet Mxhiti, from the Albanian coalition VALEN, part of the Government, said that the Albanian language has not been violated, but added that "the illegal assets of the DUI, yes."

"For all those who have been screaming like mad these days to scare Albanians and threaten destabilization, I have an answer: The game is over. Rest easy. The Albanian language will not be contested," Mexhiti wrote on Facebook on Sunday.

The decision to assess the constitutionality of the law has caused strong political reactions, especially after the abolition of the Balancer mechanism on October 9, an instrument that regulated the “fair and adequate” representation of communities in state institutions.

DUI, days ago, sent letters again to internationals, the United States, the European Union and NATO, requesting that as guarantors of the Ohrid Agreement they intervene to prevent any possible decision to repeal the articles of the Law on Languages.

At the same time, on December 7, over 250 Albanian intellectuals signed an open letter to the Constitutional Court, demanding that it act professionally and avoid politically motivated decisions. According to them, any arbitrary decision could have serious consequences for interethnic relations in the country.

The law on the use of languages ​​has been sitting in the drawers of the Constitutional Court for five years.

This Law, which began to be discussed in 2017 and was approved in 2018, provides for the expanded use of the Albanian language. The case related to the opposition to this law includes 13 initiatives submitted by citizens, political parties and various associations since 2019. /REL/