None of the associations, including the Bulgarian ones, have applied for a name change to the Central Registry of the Republic of North Macedonia, its Director Marija Boskovska-Jankovski said in an interview with Television 24. The King Boris III Civil Society Association in Ohrid has sent a letter asking what is required under the new Associations and Foundations Act, but it has not asked to change its name, she said.
Boskovska-Jankovski called this "buying time" because the Central Registry has replied in writing what documents must be submitted within one month so as to comply with the new law.
The documents of 17,000 associations in the database of the Central Registry of the Republic of North Macedonia, including the Bulgarian associations "with controversial names", have been sent to the Justice Ministry. Before that, a commission determined if the names of associations and foundations are in accordance with the law and "whether an association should stop work".
The statutes and programmes of all associations are almost identical. "In the case of the Bulgarian associations, there are texts that they will defend Bulgarian interests, but this is not enough to stop them from being registered as a legal entity because they meet the other conditions," Boskovska-Jankovski said.
After last week's press release of the Central Registry, the media of the Republic of North Macedonia wrote that the King Boris III Association of Ohrid had applied for a name change. BTA learned from its Chairman, Tome Blazeski, that they had sent a letter asking for clarifications as to what is required of associations registered under the earlier legislation, like the one in Ohrid.
The Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia adopted unanimously the Associations and Foundations Act. It gave the registered associations and foundations with controversial names three months until February 16 to apply for a name change.
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