North Macedonia court delays language law ruling amid ethnic tensions

SKOPJE. North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday postponed a ruling on a controversial law concerning the use of minority languages, triggering a new round of ethnic tensions in the tiny Balkan country.

The 2019 law made Albanian a second official language in areas with a significant population of ethnic Albanians. It faces multiple legal challenges regarding its constitutionality, some focused on specific articles and others concerning the entire law.

Court officials said the delay will allow further deliberations and input from foreign experts and could take up to three months.

Ethnic Albanians make up roughly a quarter of North Macedonia’s 2 million population, in a country slightly larger than the U.S. state of Vermont.

Several hundred demonstrators joined a protest outside the court Wednesday organized by the DUI, an ethnic Albanian opposition party. The party warned that any rollback would destabilize the country’s fragile ethnic balance.

North Macedonia’s multi-ethnic composition was formalized in the 2001 Ohrid Agreement, which ended a brief ethnic conflict and granted broader rights to ethnic Albanians. The DUI accuses the current conservative government of attempting to undermine those gains.

“Any attempt to repeal parts of the Law on the Use of Languages would be absolutely unacceptable for us,” a DUI statement said. “Such actions would upend the balance between communities and damage the basic pillars of the Ohrid Agreement.”

The law has drawn criticism from both domestic and international observers, including the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters.

In 2019, it noted ambiguities in the law, particularly in its application to judicial proceedings.

Critics also argue that it fails to clarify whether certain provisions apply solely to Albanian or to other minority languages, such as Turkish, Roma, and Serbian.

Bujar Osmani, the DUI party’s deputy leader, said he was concerned by the absence of ethnic minority judges during Wednesday’s session.

“Such mono-ethnic meetings or sessions have always been a harbinger of bad times in multi-ethnic states,” Osmani said. “This is not just a cause for the Albanian language, but for the protection of a multi-ethnic European Macedonia.”

Both the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party and the opposition Social Democrats have condemned the politicization of the issue.

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski accused the DUI of exploiting ethnic tensions for political gain.

“They are again abusing Albanians, Macedonians, and others, harassing everyone with attempts to divide and attract attention,” Mickoski said.

Konstantin Testorides, The Associated Press