Todor Petrov

"The Constitutional Court must adapt itself to these conditions as well. Concerning any regulation that someone deems unconstitutional, it can take the initiative," he said.

Denis Preshovа, assistant constitutional law professor at Sts Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, agreed.

Several thousand protesters rallied in Skopje, the capital of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), late Tuesday for the government to call off talks with Greece aimed at settling a decades-long name dispute.

The towering cross in the Aerodrom municipality of Skopje, which was sanctified this week, is a cultural artefact and not meant to cause religious or ethnic offence, said Todor Petrov, the head of the World Macedonian Congress, the NGO behind its construction.

“The cross is not erected to provoke and it is not an anti-Albanian or anti-Muslim symbol,” Petrov said.

The steel cross, which the authors say will be over 50 metres high, is being speedily assembled in the Skopje municipality of Aerodrom so that it can be opened by Orthodox Easter, celebrated on April 20.