Macedonia Makes Albanian Second Language Despite Conservative President Opposition

The newly minted Republic of Macedonia has passed a law to designate Albanian the country’s official second language. The law declares that the Albanian language and alphabet are regarded as official in the Republic of Macedonia. The passing of the law will boost the use of the language at the national level.

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The decree was delayed for months due to a clash between the left-led government and conservative President Gjorge Ivanov, who stated that the law - which serves to assuages the often restive ethnic minority - was unconstitutional and unnecessary.

The law was passed twice with majority votes in the Republic’s parliament, first on January 11, 2018 and, again, on March 14, 2018, but Ivanov had refused to sign the orders on both occasions.

The Republic of Macedonia's ethnic Albanians make up only about one-quarter of the country's 2.1 million population.

The law was made public Tuesday after it was signed off by ethnic Albanian Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi - who bypassed the president - and then being published in the government gazette.

“The Law on use of languages is published by the Official Gazette,” the message stated, in both Macedonian and Albanian, on Xhaferi’s Facebook account.

Though elected representatives previously used Albanian in parliament, under the new law the speaker will be allowed to speak and lead sessions in the language.