Macedonia's Albanian Language Law Moves Towards Adoption

The text of the new language law - seen as the last legal remaining provision stemming from a 2001 peace deal that ended an armed conflict between Albanian insurgents and Macedonian security forces - is expected to be put before parliament for adoption soon.

The law would extend the official use of Albanian to the entire country, where ethnic Albanians make up around a quarter of the total population of 2.1 million. It will mainly ease communication in Albanian with institutions like municipalities, hospitals and courts.

In a compromise between the main ruling Social Democratic Party, SDSM, and its junior Albanian coalition partners, they have agreed to send two key parts of the law to the Venice Commission for evaluation.

The Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe, will be asked to evaluate whether the possible introduction of bilingual banknotes and uniforms for the army and police are in line with the Macedonian constitution and the 2001 Ohrid peace accord.

If so, they could easily be incorporated into the law a bit later, the government source, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told media on Saturday.

"There will be no bilingual banknotes and uniforms [in the new law], unless the Venice Commission confirms that this is in line with the constitution. We have no prejudices regarding those things," Zaev said.

"Anything that improves the quality of life of the citizens and that the constitution allows has been included in the law," he added.

Zaev promised to bring in a law that would extend the official use of Albanian when he struck a coalition deal with several Albanian parties earlier this year. 

In July the small, ethnic Albanian-led DPA - Movement for Reforms party threatened to withdraw its vital...