site.btaVMRO-DPMNE Moves to Introduce Legislative Changes against Dual Citizenship of North Macedonia's MPs

One of North Macedonia's ruling parliamentary groups, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), has submitted to Parliament a bill which foresees that MPs will not have the right of foreign citizenship. That was announced by VMRO-DPMNE MP Antonio Miloshoski on Facebook on Wednesday after Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) spread a report according to which several VMRO-DPMNE representatives have Bulgarian citizenship. The report, based on opposition-party statement, came out right after the April 19 elections in Bulgaria.

In an interview on Sitel TV, VMRO-DPMNE MP Bojan Stojanoski, who was mentioned in the SDSM-report, rejected the accusations of having Bulgarian citizenship. According to Dafina Jovanoska – Stojanoska, another MP of the ruling party, with the adoption of the bill the SDSM statements will lose value.

Media outlets in North Macedonia said that the VMRO-DPMNE proposal was signed exactly by the MPs who allegedly own Bulgarian citizenship, including Antonio Miloshoski, Nikola Micevski, Bojan Stojanoski, Igor Zdravkovski, Maria Petrushevska.

Liberal Democratic Party Chair Monika Zajkova announced her party’s support for the VMRO-DPMNE proposal which should be applied to current MPs as well. She shared her expectations that those in possession of dual citizenship will resign their positions.

SDSM coordinator Oliver Spasovski was also cited by media in North Macedonia. According to him the bill is a populist approach and “it is impossible to prove the one’s ownership of citizenship of North Macedonia, therefore the suggested amendment is inadequate”. Spasovski stressed that the VMRO-DPMNE proposal is insufficient as it does not guarantee its appliance to the current National Assembly. That is why SDSM plans to propose its own amendment, striving to ensure that dual citizenship limitation covers MPs in the current Parliament, as well as other positions, he added.

Local media reported that VMRO-DPMNE's proposal to put the bill on Parliament’s agenda by short procedure was accepted, receiving 77 votes in favour and only 8 against.