Skopje, 27 October 2023 (MIA) - The Parliamentary Committee on Rules of Procedure and Mandatory and Immunity Issues isa set to begin on Friday a debate over amendments to the updated Rules of Procedure. Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi, who proposed the update, has submitted several amendments, and amendments have also been submitted by Levica, VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM. 

According to the Parliament, the Committee will also debate the amendments over the weekend if necessary, and coordinators of parliamentary groups have aligned positions over certain amendments on Thursday. 

"It is expected some of the amendments, previously accepted by the consensus of coordinators of the parliamentary groups, to be approved," Speaker Xhaferi told Thursday's meeting with Ambassador Kilian Wahl, Head of OSCE Mission to Skopje.

Xhaferi said that rules of the Parliament must be precise because they are the best tool for parliament functioning. 

The Speaker said the new Rules of Procedure will likely be put to a vote at a session on November 2, adding that he expects it to be adopted with a consensus. 

The new rulebook will start to apply at the beginning of the new term of Parliament, i.e., from the constitutive session of the new parliamentary composition. 

The updated Rules of Procedure is the result of five-year talks of parliamentary groups within the Jean Monnet process, which takes place with MEPs' mediation.

Xhaferi thanked Wahl for the support from the OSCE Mission to Skopje to the Parliament during the past period, Parliament said in a press release. "There was also support for issues from the proposed Rules of Procedure, which is the result of five years of constructive work between parliamentary political parties to reach a consensus regarding the provisions foreseen in the new proposed Rules of Procedure of the Parliament. He underscored that the goal of all stakeholders in preparing the new draft Rules of Procedure is to prevent all unwanted cases of blocking the work of the parliament, learned from the previous experience of the past 30 years." 

Photo: MIA archive