Jelinčič misinforms: There is no renunciation of identity in the treaties with Athens and Sofia!

By Тео Блажевски On Jan 13, 2020 0

Змаго Ј. Племенити. Фото: СНС/вебсајт

Slovenian politician and MP Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti, made a statement regarding the situation in the Republic of North Macedonia containing falsehoods:

STATEMENT: With the signing of the Prespa Agreement, Zaev renounced everything Macedonian. By signing a ‘friendly’ agreement with Bulgaria, he renounced the identity and history of the Macedonian people, and by adopting a law on bilingualism he wanted to give the Albanian minority, which comprises less than 20 per cent, the right of a constituent people, to federalize the country and make it bilingual in exchange for the Albanian political support. Common to all these acts is that they are adopted illegally and unconstitutionally.

[Source: Ekspres.mk and SNS.si – date: 6 and 7 January 2020]

EXPLANATION:

Although less frequent, Truthmeter assesses statements made by foreign politicians or other public figures when they speak of the RNM or the situation in the country, and such an exaggerated allegation has been said these days by Slovenian nationalist politician Zmago Jelničič Plemeniti in relation to the agreements with Greece and Bulgaria.

The text of this prominent politician’s statement since the days of the breakup of the former SFRY, which was posted on the website of his Slovenian People’s Party and republished a day later on the portal Express, is filled with a radical vocabulary towards the Social Democrats (in this country, but also in Slovenia) and insults directed at Zoran Zaev personally. These are the political views of Jelinčič Plemeniti, which are legitimate, and everything would be fine if the core of his claim was true.

Namely, Jelinčič builds his radical assumptions, abusive vocabulary and the like on three assumptions – the malignity of Skopje’s international agreements with Athens and Sofia, which he claims are identity denial, the malignity of the Law on Languages and the illegality and unconstitutionality in their adoption.

The first lie about the Prespa Agreement and the treaty with Bulgaria is that the identity and history of the Macedonian people have been lost, and these topics have been well elaborated many times by “Truthmeter”. Namely, at no point in the agreement with Athens and at any point in the agreement with Sofia, Skopje has officially renounced its identity or history. As it is well known, one of the most prominent elements of the identity issue is the language, and the Macedonian language is recognized in both treaties, i.e. in the treaty with Bulgaria there is no dispute about it. Quite another issue are the views of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) and their interpretation of the country’s official language. In terms of history, there is also no renunciation. According to the compromise solution, joint committees with the two countries are established, tasked with reviewing the history textbooks in each of the countries – jointly.

As for the stance on the Law on Languages, Jelinčič Plemeniti argues that Zaev wanted to make the Albanian minority constituent people in a country where they are below 20 percent of the total population.

First, Albanians, as well as other non-majority nationalities in the Republic of North Macedonia, have been constitutional since 1991, and the position has been much clearer with the several amendments to the 2001 Constitution. Second, the number of the population in the country has been unknown for a long time, given the known problems with the census. Therefore, it is untrue if one pretends to know exactly how many Albanians, for example, live in Macedonia right now.

And the last essential falsehood in Jelinčič‘s claim is that all these acts were adopted illegally and unconstitutionally.

Anyone in power has a legitimate right to pursue their political ideas because they have been elected for it. Whether there were pressures on the MPs to vote for a solution should be proved, regardless of the open indications existing in the Macedonian public, but according to their decisions, the basic procedure for legality and constitutionality has been respected. This is true even for the disputed referendum, as it guided policy makers to make a decision. In this case, although it was officially unsuccessful because of the boycott, the referendum results, by the government and by a large portion of the public, were interpreted as suggesting that a large majority of those voting had agreed to the Prespa Agreement.

Because of the above arguments, it can be assessed that the political attitudes of Slovenian politician Zmago Jeleničič Plemeniti towards the RNM, the Social Democrats and Zoran Zaev are based on falsehoods.

SOURCES:

Ministry of Interior – Договорот од Преспа – [Accessed on 9 January 2020]
Government of the RNM – Договор за пријателство и добросооседство со Бугарија – [Accessed on 9 January 2020]

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This article was created within the framework of the Project to increase the accountability of the politicians and political parties Truthmeter implemented by Metamorphosis. The article is made possible by the generous support of the US non-profit foundation National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The content is the responsibility of its author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Metamorphosis, the National Endowment for Democracy or their partners.