Macedonia Pushes Forward Constitution Changes to Seal Greece Deal

Parliament is expected this week to open a debate on the draft constitutional changes which the government is expected to submitt on Monday, or in the next few days.

The draft amendments are still being worked on, government spokesperson Mile Bosnjakovski told media on Friday.

"The moment they are put on paper, we will publish them and submit them to parliament for their finalisation", Bosnjakovski said.

Each of the draft constitutional changes, one of which will allow the country's name to become the Republic of North Macedonia - as required under the deal made with Greece this summer - will first be deliberated in parliament's constitutional commissions.

The parliamentary rulebook allows a three-day debate for each draft separately. After this, the drafts will be put to a plenary session where again three days of debate will be allowed for each amendment before they are put to a vote.

Unlike on October 19, when parliament had to pass the first phase of the implementation of the 'name' agreement with a two-thirds majority, the voting in the second phase will require only a simple majority of 61 MPs in the 120-seat parliament.

On Friday, Aleksandar Kiracovski, an MP and secretary-general of the main ruling Social Democrats, called on parliamentarians from the opposition VMRO DPMNE to join in the debate in a constructive manner.

"I hope that all the legislators will participate in the debate on the draft amendments and in making them better, so that we can all together finish this process which moves us further towards the EU and NATO," Kiracovski said.

He reiterated the ruling majority's belief that if the process moves forward according to plan, parliamentary implementation of the 'name'...