DUI accuses IPH director Maria Andonovska of violating the Law on the Use of Languages
DUI says sector heads at the Institute of Public Health were told bilingual documents will no longer be accepted and calls for Inspectorate action.
The Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) has accused Maria Andonovska, the director of the Institute of Public Health (IPH), of ordering that official communication inside the institute be conducted exclusively in Macedonian, a move the party says violates the Law on the Use of Languages.
According to DUI, sector heads at the IPH received phone messages instructing them to inform staff that bilingual documents would no longer be accepted and that only documents in Macedonian would be considered valid.
Pointing to those messages as the immediate cause for its reaction, the party said the practice reflects a growing phenomenon in state bodies where managers decide unilaterally whether Albanian may be used in official exchanges.
"By what right does the director of a state institution allow herself to declare invalid documents that contain the Albanian language? Who gave her the authority to place herself above the law?" the party asked.
Calls for accountability and institutional oversight
DUI also criticised the silence of representatives of Vlen in the government, saying their inaction amounts to both inability and tacit encouragement for officials who flout the law.
"The representatives of Vlen, besides showing an inability to protect the Albanian language, are now becoming deaf to the flagrant violations of the law. Instead of using legal and institutional mechanisms to ensure its application, they chose silence and indifference," the party said.
The party noted the incident comes just days after a European Commission report which flagged problems with respect for language rights. "Instead of this report serving as an alarm for the Government, we are witnessing the opposite: officials who behave as if they are above the law and political representatives who are silent before them," DUI added.
Finally, DUI demanded that the Government thoroughly review the conduct of responsible officials and asked the Inspectorate for the Use of Languages to start enforcing the law immediately.
"We demand concrete responsibility for the failure to respect the Law on the Use of Languages. And finally, it is time for the Inspectorate for the Use of Languages to come out of its shelter of shame and start performing the duty for which it was established," the party said, adding that "The Law on the Use of Languages is not a matter of preference, nor an object of political bargaining. No one has a mandate to place themselves above the law and no one has the right to declare the Albanian language invalid in the institutions of this state."
Photo: press material from the event
