The sovereignty might be jeopardized, but only by Ivanov

Neither the Platform is a “foreign” (dangerous) document, nor the unity, independence and the sovereignty of RM are jeopardized. This could be established by the careful analysis of the terms that Ivanov gives as his explanation why he didn’t entrust the mandate to the one that secured the majority of MPs

The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Gjorgje Ivanov, gave the following statement as the reason for his refusal to entrust the mandate for formation of the government, which we assess as untruthful:

In accordance with the Article 84 of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, I will not entrust a mandate for formation of the government of the Republic of Macedonia to anybody who negotiates platforms of other countries that blackmail the Macedonian people, jeopardize the unity of the state, its sovereignty and independence.

Foreign post-election platforms cannot and must not be the grounds for formation of the government of the Republic of Macedonia.

[ Source: Република, date 01 March 2017]

EXPLANATION:

Gjorgje Ivanov, President of the RM in his second term, on 1 March 2017, while announcing that he’s not entrusting the mandate to SDSM’s leader Zoran Zaev, who delivered written proof that he has secured the signatures of the majority of MPs in the Parliament (67 out of 120), uttered an untruth by asserting that Zaev and his future coalition partners have been jeopardizing the unity, sovereignty and independence of the state.

The reason is the Platform of the Albanians’ parties in Macedonia, for which they had two joint meetings after the elections, one organized by the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, and the second one organized by Kosovo’s authorities, but also a few more in Macedonia.

THE PLATFORM IS A POLITICAL WILL WITHOUT ELEMENTS OF BLACKMAIL

In order to clarify why we assess that Ivanov is telling untruths, we are going to state the following facts:

– According to the statements of the participants on the meeting in Tirana that took place on the last days of 2016, as published in the media, Rama has played a consulting role, and the meeting saw the adoption of a draft document which later became official in Macedonia on the meetings of the party bodies.

– The document was made official and published in Macedonia on 7 January 2017. First, it was published in Albanian, and the state agency MIA published the Macedonian translation.

– If you read carefully the entire document, you won’t be able to find elements that overstep the Constitution (except for the one which is pointed out as an issue), and besides, the Platform does not have temporal or conditioning limitations. The Platform starts with an introduction, whose first and last paragraphs say:

We, the representatives of the Albanian political parties in Macedonia: “Democratic Union for Integration”, “Coalition Renaissance with BESA” and “Alliance for Albanians”;…

… Agree to mutual support of the joint political agenda that projects implementation of the following objectives, during the future government term and/or every other future term;

The last sentence of the introduction clearly shows that there are no limitations for fulfilling the seven items of the Platform – “during the future government term and/or every other future term”

– Besides the numerous statements of the leaders of the Albanian political parties that the government can’t be formed without complete acceptance of the Platform, at the end it became completely clear that the main controversy was the Law on the Use of the Languages, i.e. the amendments of the Law that will be priority in the beginning of the work of the new Parliament. This was also confirmed by SDSM’s leader Zaev in his statement after Ivanov’s refusal to give the mandate to him. The same night, in Analiza on TV 24, one of the people that penned the text, the professor of Constitutional law Osman Kadriu, confirmed that the Albanian parties “obeyed him” and agreed to leave all things that require amendments of the Constitution (flag, anthem, coat of arms – which are stated in the Platform as discussion topics!) aside. Furthermore, Osmani adds, the Law on Languages has been prepared for so long and with great attention to details, so it won’t be unconstitutional.

The arguments we offered concerning Ivanov’s explanation on the Platform highlight that the Platform is actually a document that expresses the political will of one group of parties. So it can’t be claimed, or there are insufficient grounds to say, that the Platform has been imposed by foreign countries, as the final version was adopted in Macedonia. (It’s like saying that the Pržino Agreement, which later was the base for adopting new laws, was imposed by outsiders, because certain aspects were discussed both in Brussels and Vienna, and EU and USA representatives attended every talk.) The Platform is not a document that imposes solutions that do not comply with the Constitution, except for one, which is not conditioned neither by time nor by indubitableness for its acceptance.

THE SOVEREIGNTY AND IVANOV

– Hence, what jeopardizes the state’s unity, as Ivanov claims? Nothing, except if you accept VMRO-DPMNE’s propaganda, which by the way, was talking about this very same Platform with DUI until 29 January 2017, and now constantly points out to dangers of federalization or cantonization. In fact, “the most problematic” item of the Platform, the item 1 says: Reaching complete equality in accordance with the Ohrid Framework Agreement and the Constitution. So,it is in accordance with the Constitution!

– Also the check of the assertion that RM’s unity has been jeopardized didn’t show that Ivanov’s assertion is correct. The independence can be jeopardized physically or substantially.

As far as we can see, there isn’t physical jeopardy. Also, there isn’t an announcement for such a thing, because if so, we would have known that somebody is gathering military units or other kind of armed troops and is preparing to attack RM. The substantial independence is assessed by the work of the state institutions and the state as a whole, whether it is in compliance with the Constitution, the laws and bylaws adopted by the bodies of institutions and by the highest one of them – the Parliament of RM. The answer is affirmative.

– Finally, is the sovereignty jeopardized? The word sovereignty has French and Latin origin, and in political sense, it is interpreted as “sole right of the supreme political (e.g. legislative, judicial and/or executive) authority over a certain geographical region, group of people or oneself. Sovereign is the supreme legislative authority, which is not subjected to anyone”. (source)

Article 1 of the Constitution of RM states that the sovereignty of the Republic of Macedonia is indivisible, inalienable and nontransferable whereas Article 2 of the Constitution says that Sovereignty in the Republic of Macedonia derives from the citizens and belongs to the citizens. The citizens of the Republic of Macedonia exercise their authority through democratically elected Representatives, through referendum and through other forms of direct expression.

Our unambiguous assessment, backed up by the given and analyzed reasons why Ivanov is not entrusting the mandate, especially because of the “foreign Platform” that “jeopardized the independence, unity and sovereignty”, is that the President of RM gave an untruthful statement.

In regard to the sovereignty allegedly jeopardized by Zaev and the Platform, we would establish that it (the sovereignty) is currently jeopardized by Ivanov himself. He, by not entrusting the mandate, practically questions Article 2 of the Constitution, especially its second Paragraph. Ivanov negates the will of the majority of the “democratically elected representatives”, that used to represent the sole sovereign in this country – the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia.

SOURCES:

• (01 March 2017) Republika – Говор на Претседател на РМ Ѓорге Иванов – [Accessed on 02 March 2017]
• (30 December 2016) Dnevnik – Албанската Платформата од Тирана ќе биде парафирана во Скопје – [Accessed on 02 March 2017]
• (07 January 2017) E magazin – Сите детали: Објавена заедничката платформа… – [Accessed on 02 March 2017]
• (01 March 2017)  24 Analiza – Каква ќе биде пресвртницата по обраќањето на Иванов? – [Accessed on 02 March 2017]
• (2015) Wikipedia in Macedonian – Сувереност – [Accessed on 02 March 2017]
• (1991) Parliament – Устав на Република Македонија – [Accessed on 02 March 2017]

Assessed by: Teofil Blazhevski

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