Assembly returns with more than 50 agenda items; autumn uncertain amid Badenter procedural blocks
First plenary after summer recess did not settle whether DUI will keep using Badenter procedural tactics to delay laws requiring a qualified majority.
Members of the Assembly returned from the summer recess to a packed agenda of more than fifty items, but the first plenary sitting did little to resolve whether the Albanian opposition block led by DUI will continue using procedural Badenter tactics to stall key laws.
During the session, SDSM raised a procedural objection, complaining that committee meetings are already being scheduled before the Assembly formally adopts the plenary agenda.
"If we establish this as a practice, we will be forced into procedural and other measures. And you want the work of the Assembly not to be blocked! I call on you not to block the work of the Assembly," said Oliver Spasovski, coordinator of the SDSM parliamentary group.
Assembly Speaker Afrim Gashi answered the appeal directly: "You are absolutely right, I join that call and I ask the services and the chairs of the committees not to convene committees before we adopt the agenda," he said.
Political accusations and denials
SDSM has recently accused DUI of carrying out procedural blockades in coordination with VMRO-DPMNE as part of a search for an alibi in advance of potential early elections. Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski rejected those assertions, saying the government has heard many falsehoods from the SDSM podium over the past 25–26 months.
"Look, we have heard many untruths from that podium and from SDSM over the past 25-26 months. So sometimes it's not necessary to comment on every stupid thing we hear," Prime Minister Mickoski said.
Levica, meanwhile, accused VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM of a tacit deal intended to block changes to the Electoral Code. "We would have to be crazy to believe a thousand times the same lie that VMRO and SDSM offer some different vision when the elections change. Well, this is how we will start this season because it is being signalled that it is a pre-election one," said Amar Mecinovic, an MP from Levica.
At least four plenary sittings are scheduled before the end of the month. The bills that require a Badenter (qualified) majority remain the focal point: the Law on Fair Representation, the Law on Higher Education and proposed changes to the Law on Local Self-Government.
Reported by Petar Dogov
Photo: press material from the event
