Parliament pauses cut time for opposition MPs' questions

The parliamentary session dedicated to opposition MPs' questions in Skopje was interrupted several times on Thursday, eating into the time reserved for the parliamentary questions.

Repeated pauses and procedural disputes

At the start of the sitting opposition MPs complained that the ministers who should answer questions were not present in the plenary hall. Rina Ajdari, coordinator of DUI's parliamentary group, asked that ministers enter the chamber and pointed out she had a question for Justice Minister Jeton Shasivari that had been announced three weeks earlier.

"I ask that the ministers enter the chamber. I have a question for Minister of Justice Jeton Shasivari announced three weeks ago, and he is absent. Call the ministers to be present in the chamber, not to sit in the parliamentary buffet, so we can continue with MPs' questions," Ajdari said.

Speaker of the Assembly Afrim Gashi replied that ministers had been summoned, that some were present, and that those due to answer would come when their turn arrived. "Those who are due to be asked questions are here; the others will come when it is their turn. The ministers who are officially outside the country informed me, but deputy ministers are here," he said.

Procedural disagreements over pauses and the interpretation of the Rules of Procedure (Delovnik) escalated into exchanges on the floor. Gashi accused the opposition of shortening its own time for questions and appealed to party coordinators to avoid turning the dispute into an attack on the Assembly's service or its president.

Oliver Spasovski of SDSM urged the session to continue and argued ministers should not be shielded, saying they should sit in the chamber for up to two hours to answer. During the exchanges he added: "What you are showing, show it to your party leader, not to me."

After the pause the ruling-majority MP Daniel Stojchevski of ZNAM took the floor and read Article 38 of the Rules of Procedure, which regulates MPs' rights to ask questions to the prime minister, ministers and other officials accountable to the Assembly. He criticized what he called a boycott of the instrument of parliamentary questions.

"We're the only country in the world where the opposition asks for a pause of the instrument intended for the opposition. The ministers and deputies are here, and still a pause is requested. Use parliamentary questions — you have a responsibility to the citizens who elected you and you are paid for that," Stojchevski said, adding that he had requested a one-hour pause and hoped the opposition would be prepared for the next sitting.

Following the interventions, Speaker Gashi announced the session would continue with the items on the agenda.

Photo: Pritnskrin