Skopje, 13 September 2022 (MIA) - SDSM supports the decision of Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi to dismiss VMRO-DPMNE's initiative for calling a referendum to annul the Bulgaria Treaty because it is unconstitutional. According to the Constitution, says the ruling party, an international agreement cannot be annulled by a law, it can be annulled only by the signatory, in this case the government, before notifying the other party. Only if VMRO-DPMNE won elections and formed a government, then it could cancel the Treaty with Bulgaria. "After consulting experts over the recent period, we claim this is unconstitutional. In 2018, we'd adopted a law ratifying the Agreement for Good Neighborly ties with Bulgaria. According to Article 118 of the Constitution, a law cannot void a law ratifying an international agreement. Article 3 of the Agreement says that the signatory, in this case the government, can only annul it and notify the other party," SDSM parliamentary coordinator Jovan Mitreski told a news conference on Tuesday. Evidently, he said, Mickoski had conceived purposely this groundless initiative before filing it against the Macedonian Constitution with the sole purpose of creating tensions and manipulating the people although being aware that he will not succeed. Earlier, Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi dismissed the initiative for a referendum calling for annulment of the Friendship Treaty with Bulgaria explaining that an international treaty cannot be annulled by a law under the Constitution. "Article 118 of the Constitution of the Republic of North Macedonia establishes that international agreements ratified in accordance with the Constitution are part of the national legal order and cannot be changed under a law. Article 8 establishes that the founding value of the constitutional order of the Republic of North Macedonia is also the respect of generally accepted norms of international law,” Xhaferi said in his response to VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski, who was authorized to submit the initiative. On September 9, VMRO-DPMNE submitted the initiative to Parliament on scheduling a referendum to annul the Treaty with Bulgaria. Filing the initiative, VMRO-DPMNE parliamentary coordinator Nikola Micevski said the party had collected the signatures needed to submit the initiative. On September 5, the VMRO-DPMNE Executive Committee adopted the referendum question: “Are you in favor of terminating the validity of the ratification law on the Agreement for Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation between Macedonia and Bulgaria, published in the Official Gazette on Jan. 18, 2017?”.