Macedonia’s parliament gave the green light late on October 19 to constitutional changes related to the “name deal” with Greece under which the country’s name will be changed to North Macedonia. This will unblock Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic integration, which has been stalled for many years.
Real drama took place in the parliament before the session which was scheduled for 11.00 local time then postponed to 15.00 and finally started late in the evening after eight opposition MPs were convinced to support the vote.
The debate started on October 15, and since then the mood in the parliament had been constantly changing until the government succeeded in gaining the support of the required 80 deputies for the crucial vote.
80 lawmakers, or a two-thirds majority, finally voted for the process of constitutional changes to begin, leaving the remaining 40 MPs from the opposition VMRO-DPMNE disappointed that the initiative had ended successfully.
VMRO-DPMNE boycotted the September 30 referendum when citizens were asked whether they support the name deal. The referendum ended with a turnout of only 36.9%, although an overwhelming majority of those who voted, over 90%, said yes in the plebiscite. VMRO-DPMNE said after the vote that as well under 50% of the electorate had backed the name deal it did not consider it was obliged to support the constitutional changes in parliament.